New Haven
by ragingscooter
Summary: This is a very AU story of Quinn's life after leaving Lima and attending Yale where her life takes a few unexpected turns that lead her to a charming young marine. Eventual Fuinn, Quinntana friendship and Finntanna friendship.
1. Chapter 1

New Haven

A/N This story is almost completely AU, only Quinn grew up in Lima, the others grew up in New Haven, the town that is home to Yale University. Some of the characters may seem a little out of character but I will try to keep them as close as I can. This will be eventual Fuinn. I don't own Glee or its characters and I have no connection to Yale.

Chapter 1 Plans and Sundresses

At sixteen Quinn Fabray's life made sense, at least she thought it did. She had a plan, well her father had a plan for her: graduate top of her class from her all-girls school and attend a small Christian college to study accounting or business and then marry a good Christian man. This was what her father wanted for her and she wanted to make him happy so she had every intention to sticking to the plan. That all changed however when at eighteen she received her acceptance letter from Yale University.

Yale had always been her dream and she had applied without her parents' knowledge. She never expected to get in but a nagging voice in her head told her that she needed to at least try. When she found the large envelope in the mail with her name on it and the Yale crest in the corner she had burst into tears. They were a mixture of happy and sad tears. She knew that if she wanted to go that meant going against her father wishes and that was something she had never done before. It took all of the courage she could muster to tell her parents about Yale. She had notecards that she had typed out detailing how going to Yale would enrich her life and that it had one of the best business schools in the country. She had charts of how much money it would cost in comparison to the college her father had picked out. And finally she begged. Throughout her entire speech her parents had remained silent and emotionless, so it surprised her when her father said that he would think about it. That in itself was a small victory to Quinn. After an agonizingly long week her parents set her down and said yes, she could attend Yale but there were conditions. First, she had to take the courses her father chose for her; second, she must keep her grades above a B+ and finally no dating. She agreed quickly as she was worried that they would change their minds, as long as she got to go she didn't care what restrictions they put on her.

_The day before Freshman Orientation, Quinn's dorm room_

Quinn's pov

After months of dreaming and waiting Quinn was finally here, she was a day away from officially being a Yale student. She looked over her new room, it was about the same size as her old room back home but it felt smaller since she was sharing it with a roommate. It had two twin beds and two small desks that took up the majority of the room. There was a small flat screen television mounted on the wall by the closet the she would have to share. Growing up as an only child Quinn was a little nervous about having a roommate but excited at the same time. It was all part of the college experience. Quinn was just finishing making up her twin bed when she heard a thump at the door and a muffled voice yell out "If anyone is in there let me in!" there was a pause as Quinn walked over to the door, "Please, I have my hands full." Quinn opened the door and couldn't see who the voice belonged to since she was carrying three boxes.

"Here let me help you." Quinn said as she took the top box and set it down carefully by the unoccupied bed. For the first time Quinn was able to see her new roommate. She had long raven black hair that was pulled into a high ponytail, she was wearing a form fitting grey tee shirt that said 'Come to the dark side we have cookies' on it and black skinny jeans. She was a little shorter than her but not by much. She appeared to be of some sort of latin descent and was beautiful, at least by Quinn's standards.

The dark haired girl smiled and dropped the boxes that she had in her arms with a thud, "Thanks I'm Santana, Santana Lopez and you must be my new roomie." She put her hand out and Quinn shook it and gave her a matching smile.

"Quinn, Quinn Fabray, well really Lucille Quinn Fabray but I never liked Lucille or Lucy." Quinn rambled and mentally scolded herself for sounding like such an idiot.

"If you like Quinn I will call you Quinn, you don't really look like a Lucy anyway." Santana said as she dropped down onto the bare bed. "So you chose that side?" she said gesturing to Quinn's already made up bed.

"Uh yeah, we can change if you want, I can switch sides no problem." Quinn said as she started to pull her bedspread away.

"Whoa, I am fine here; you don't have to move I was just making an observation. This side is fine." Santana said bounced a little on her bed. She hopped up from the bed and walked the short distance to stand in front of Quinn. She looked more serious than she had when she first came into the room and motioned for Quinn to sit down. "Okay so I believe in being honest and upfront so I need to tell you a few things about myself. I few deal breakers about us being roommates you could say. If you have a problem with any of these things then we are not going to get along. First off I didn't come here to party, I plan on doing well here so that means that I need a quiet place to study and do my homework, I don't mind doing it at the library but would prefer to do it here. Second, I don't smoke or do drugs, I won't judge you if you do them but don't do them around me. Third, I'm a lesbian. Any problems Q?" Santana said with her hands on her hips as if challenging Quinn to take issue with what she had just said.

Quinn of course had no problems with the first two but the last one gave her a moment's pause. Up till now she had never met a gay person before, at least not one so open about it. She could hear her father's voice in the back of her head telling her that it was wrong, that it was a sin and went against nature but she pushed his voice back. Quinn wanted to start this part of her life with a clean slate and to do so she needed an open mind. "I have no problems. I do have a question for you though." Quinn said as raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"What is up with you calling me Q?" Quinn said with a smile.

"Oh, I thought for sure you were going to ask me about the gay thing. I called you Q because I give everyone nicknames, it kind of my thing." Santana said relaxing a little. "So you are okay with everything?"

Quinn sat on her bed and smoothed out her sundress, "Sure, I like a quiet study place too and I have never done drugs or smoked and have no intention of starting."

Santana looked down at her and said hesitantly, "And they gay part of it?"

Quinn looked up to meet her eyes, "Honestly, you are the first lesbian, well first gay person period that I have met. I don't really know what to think but I am willing to keep an open mind about it."

Santana nodded thoughtfully, "I can accept that, but seriously I am the first gay person that you know? Where on earth did you escape from?"

Quinn laughed, "I moved here from a small town in Ohio called Lima."

"Ohio huh. I guess that makes sense you kind of have that Midwest good girl thing going for you." Santana said as she looked Quinn up and down.

"What do you mean by that?" Quinn said with a hint of anger in her voice.

Santana raised her hands in surrender, "I didn't mean anything bad, I was just thinking that with the sundress and patent leather shoes you look like the stereotypical good girl from the fifties, nothing wrong with that, if that is the look that you are going for then more power to you."

Quinn looked down at what she was wearing and frowned; it was a pale blue dress with small pink flowers along the hem. Her mother had bought it for her. Her mother had bought all of her clothes. "I do look like I stepped out 'Leave it to Beaver' don't I?"

"Feel free to say no but if you want to try on some of my clothes you can. My pants are going to be a little short on you but I think everything else should fit okay." Santana offered.

Quinn's smile returned, "Really?"

"Sure, if we are going to be roomies then why not?" Santana said as she went back to her bed and opened a box. After a minute of digging around she pulled out a pale green v-neck tee shirt and a pair of denim shorts. "You like these?" she asked as she tossed them in Quinn's direction. Quinn was startled but caught the clothing. Quinn nodded as she looked at the clothes. "Good, put them on and then we can explore the campus together." Santana said as she dumped the rest of the box on her bed.

Quinn looked at Santana's few boxes compared to the number she had shipped and was confused, had Quinn brought to much stuff? "Santana is this all you brought with you?" she asked pointing to the three boxes.

"For now, I wasn't sure how big the room was going to be. I figured I could always grab more stuff from home as I needed it." Santana answered. "I didn't tell you that I'm a townie did I?"

"A townie?" Quinn questioned feeling a little lost.

"I grew up in New Haven, this is home to me." Santana replied as she straightened her ponytail. "So you going to change?"

"Yeah I guess so." Quinn said hesitantly. She wasn't sure if she should change in front of her, not that she was worried about Santana watching her but was there a protocol about how to get dressed in front of your new gay roommate? If she didn't change then Santana would think that she had a problem with her but if she just started stripping would that give a wrong message too? Quinn didn't know what to do.

Santana turned around to face the wall away from Quinn as if she could read Quinn's muddled mind. "Is this better?" she said and Quinn could swear she could her Santana smirking.

Quinn quickly unzipped the sundress and let it slip off as she pulled on the shirt and shorts. "I am sorry, I just wasn't sure…"

Santana stopped her, "No its okay Q, I get it. This is new to the both of us. We will work it out. We just need to be patient with each other. Is it okay for me to turn around?"

"Yes. Thank you for being willing to work with me on this. I feel like such an idiot." Quinn said as she slipped on a pair of sneakers.

"I seriously doubt that you are an idiot, you got into Yale after all, so how dumb can you be?" Santana said with a mischievous smile. "I have got to say this and don't take it the wrong way but damn Q you look hot. I am not hitting on you because I am pretty sure that you are as straight as a ruler but seriously wow."

Quinn blushed, "Uh thanks, I guess."

"Don't worry Q I won't try and seduce you, unless you want me to." Santana said in a cocky voice.

In the past Quinn would have stayed silent and let the moment pass but this wasn't Lima Quinn. She wasn't sure where the confidence was coming from but she rolled her eyes as she said, "I think I am out of your league San."

Santana choked back laughter, clearly surprised with the blonde's comeback. "You know what Q I think this is going to work out just fine."

A/N So that was chapter one. How did I do? I know that there is no Finn yet but he is coming up in the next chapter so don't worry. The next chapter will cover Quinn's freshman year and then jump ahead to her senior year. Right now I am thinking that I am going to stick with writing this keeping the "T" rating unless readers really want the "M" stuff. I won't beg for reviews but I do enjoy getting them and if you write one or have questions about where this story is heading I will respond back.


	2. Chapter 2 Snowflakes and Combat Boots

A/N Couldn't sleep so I wrote instead. Still don't own Glee, I really thought I would wake up today and find that I did.

Chapter 2 Snowflakes and Combat Boots

_Finals and registration week at Yale_

Quinn's pov

Snow was lightly falling outside. The grounds were covered with the fluffy white stuff but no one dared go outside and play in it as final exams were fast approaching. Quinn sat on her bed as she played with the cap of her highlighter. She had to re-read her introductory to finance notes. She groaned loudly causing Santana to look up from her own book across the room. "Frustrated Q?" she said as she twisted a strand of hair around her finger.

Quinn nodded "This is so mind numbingly boring, I swear that if I have to read about interest rates and projected supply numbers anymore I am going to gouge my eyes out with a spork."

Santana rolled her eyes as she got up and flopped down on the small bed beside Quinn, nudging her over so that she could fit. "That was scary specific Q and very graphic, but I don't blame you, just hearing about it makes me want to fall asleep."

Quinn let her book and notes fall to the floor and laid down next to her roommate, she stared up at the ceiling. In a quiet voice she confessed, "I hate my classes San. I mean I really hate them. I love being here but I dread going to my lectures, I have nightmares about my exams and I can't stand my classmates, all they care about is money." She pulled her pillow out from under Santana's head put it over her face before she screamed into it.

Santana propped herself up on an elbow and looked down at the blonde, "You know that there is an easy fix to you problem right? Take different classes. It is that simple Q."

Quinn moved the pillow down to her chest and hugged it tightly, "It isn't that easy San, my parents are only letting me go here if I take the classes that they choose."

Santana raised an eyebrow, "Lie to them."

"Lie to them?"

"Yes, if that is the only way, tell them that you are taking the boring money classes but really take the ones that you want." Santana said as she laid back down.

"How? I mean what am I saying I can't lie to them." She was quiet for a minute, "How?"

"Simple, you tell them one thing but do the opposite. All you need to do is go into your student account and change where your report card gets sent so they won't see your schedule." Santana said matter of factually.

"It sounds like you have thought this through." Quinn said nervously.

"That is because I did during thanksgiving weekend when you went home." the latina said as she stretched.

"I thought you loved your classes?" Quinn questioned.

"I do, I love my premed classes, I was thinking about it for you. You have been miserable Q. You are my friend and I can't stand to see you this unhappy. I know that there is a happy, feisty girl hiding under that business major disguise. Let that girl come out." Quinn remained quiet. Santana sat up and took Quinn's hands from clenching her pillow. "What do you want to do Quinn? Not what your parents want for you but what do you want?"

Quinn could see that her new friend was serious. "I want to be a writer." She said just above a whisper.

"Really? Is that what that thick notebook is for? Is that where you write?" Santana asked as she pointed to a beat up notebook on Quinn's desk. Quinn nodded. "Well I hear this school has a pretty awesome English department maybe you should look into it Q." Santana said with a smile.

Quinn sat up, still holding Santana's hand, "That was the reason I applied here, the English department."

"So do it. Try it for a quarter, if you want you can always go back to your boring business classes." Santana offered. "I just want you find something to make you happy. When you got back from Ohio you looked so sad, what happened?"

Quinn got up from the bed and began to pace. "Nothing happened."

Santana rose up to stand in front of Quinn, effectively stopping her pacing. "Something happened. Tell me."

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, "I told you about Sam, my old boyfriend right?" Santana nodded and Quinn continued, "Well I told you how we went out for about six months, our parents set us up, it was never serious for me. I didn't love him, I thought that he was a nice boy but other than him being someone my father liked we had nothing in common. I broke up with him a few weeks before I came out here."

"Yeah, you told me this a while back." Santana said as she tried to make eye contact with Quinn who wasn't meeting her gaze.

"He came to my parents' house when I was there. He wants to get back together, he had a promise ring." Quinn said while looking down.

"Wow…that is… well I don't know what that is. What did you say?" Santana said a little dumbstruck.

Quinn shook her head, "What could I say, he was there on his knees with a ring."

"You…you said yes?" Santana stuttered in disbelief.

Quinn rubbed her temples with her hands, "No I said no. I almost said yes because that was what I was supposed to say but something inside me was screaming no."

Santana nodded vigorously, "Good, I mean I am happy you said no. If I had been there I would have been screaming no for you."

Quinn relax a touch, "They funny thing was that when I said no he looked relieved. I think my father pressured him to do it. I don't think I can go back for Christmas and risk seeing him again."

"Well that is another easy fix, stay with me for Christmas." Santana offered.

"I don't want to intrude on you and your family San." Quinn declined.

"You won't, I am going to be alone this year. My parents are going on a trip to Spain and my brother is still in training he can't come home. You would be saving me from loneliness. Stay with me." She ordered.

"What about Britt?" Quinn said bringing up the raven haired girl's girlfriend that went to school in California.

"She is staying in LA." Santana answered and then muttered; "Besides we broke up."

"What when did that happen?" a shocked Quinn asked.

"About two weeks ago. The long distance thing wasn't working. We never had time to talk. I guess I realized that we weren't even really trying to make time either so it is for the best." Santana rationalized her voice trying to sound more certain than her face showed.

"I am sorry San." Quinn said sympathetically.

"Thanks, but I really do think that it was the right thing. I love her but after all this time apart I don't think that I am in love with her, you know what I mean?"

Quinn shook her head, "I couldn't tell you, I have never been in love."

"Well I think that when you really love someone you make the effort to be with them even if it is just a phone call every couple of days. If you can't do that then well it isn't meant to be." Santana said looking a little more confident. "So you are going to stay with me." It was more of a command than a question.

Quinn took a moment to think it over, on one side three weeks of Lima and her parents asking her about her finance courses and Sam with that ring of his or on the other side hanging out with Santana and no talk of school work. "I would love to stay with you San."

A large smile spread across Santana face, "Good, I wasn't looking forward to spending all that time alone. We are going to have fun."

"What kind of fun are you talking about San?" Quinn as she was a little worried about what her roommate considered fun.

"I was thinking that if you were up for it maybe we could do a makeover on you. Not that there is anything wrong with how you look but a new look might be nice too. We could also take the train down to New York City, check the city out." Santana said as she went back to her bed and picked her book back up.

"A makeover may be exactly what I need and New York sounds great, I have never been." She went back to her bed and gathered her book and notes from the floor. "You said your brother was in training, I didn't know that you had a brother, what is he training for?"

Santana looked up from her book, pride clear on her face, "Oh Finn, yeah he is at a place in Bridgeport California. He is a marine.

_Mountain Warfare Training Center__- barracks_

Finn pov

Private First Class Finn shook snow from his jacket and pulled off his boots. He had thought that basic training had been tough but that had been a piece of cake compared to what his gunnery sergeant was making him do now. Not everyone had the opportunity to train here and he was proud to be a part of this unit. It was here that he was being trained to handle extreme cold fighting conditions. He had just gotten back from an overnight training exercise, he was assigned to sniper detail and had to remain hidden and still in a snow bank with temperature well below freezing. He shivered at the thought; he was just now warming up.

He saw that he had a stack of mail on his bunk. He had a letter from his cousin Alex, she was also a marine but she was still in basic training at Parris Island in South Carolina. He smiled when he saw that Santana had sent him a small package, she was always sending him care packages. He opened it eagerly, inside were some photos from his going away party. There was one of him and the boys: Mike, Artie and Kurt. The next picture was of him and Santana, he was holding her up over his head and she was yelling at him. He laughed a little at the memory. The other pictures were of his family, he missed them. He felt bad that he wouldn't get to go home for Christmas but this was too important. The last picture was of Santana sticking her tongue out. On the back she had written, 'Don't shoot yourself Finniot', that made Finn smile even bigger. Leave it to Santana to write that. He tucked the photo into the space above his bed so he could see it when he lay down. He liked the reminders of home. He started to read the short letter that came with the photos.

_Hey Finnoncence,_

_I hope you haven't turned into a popsicle yet. We have some snow here too but I don't have to sleep in it. Finals are almost here, me and Q are studying like mad. My brain might explode from all of this knowledge that I am trying to cram into it. Don't worry about missing Christmas, I get it. I am going to try and guilt-trip Quinn into staying with me. I think that you would like her; under her good girl façade she has a wicked sense of humor. Take care of yourself. _

_San_

"Who the fuck is that Hudson? Your girlfriend? She is way too hot for you." said a voice that he did not care for.

"Azimio lay off, that is his sister, you idiot." Said a much friendlier voice.

Finn stood up from his bunk and stood to his full height of 6 foot 3 and Azimio backed down. After the former high school bully ran off Finn turned and said, "Thanks Blaine."

"No problem. The guy is a moron. So that is Santana? Nice picture." Blaine said as he sat on the bunk opposite of Finn. "So how was last night? I think I am scheduled to go tomorrow."

"Yeah this is San. I am not going to lie to you it was rough last night but if I can do it you can too." Finn said encouragingly. "Think about warm things if you can. That helped me." He offered.

Blaine ran a hand through his hair, everyone had the same short haircut but Blaine had some pretty untamable curls trying to form on the top of his head. "Thanks Finn, I knew that this was going to be difficult but…"

"I know what you mean. After basic I had kind of hoped the worst of the training was over too. But this is what we signed up for right? You don't join the marines because you think it is going to be easy. We are the best of the best for a reason." Finn said confidently.

Blaine nodded, "I know. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision in joining though."

Finn sat back on his bunk so he could face his friend, "We all have our reasons for being here man, I joined because it felt like it was the right place for me. Why did you sign up? No offence but you don't seem like the type of guy to volunteer for the military."

Blaine cocked his head slightly and narrowed his eyes at Finn, "Why because I am gay?"

Finn held up his hands in the stop position and shook his head, "Oh no, no, no…I only meant that…hell I don't know what I meant. You know that I have no problems with you being gay. Both my sister and cousin are gay and so is one of my best friends from high school." Finn pulled out the photo that Santana sent him of Mike, Artie and Kurt, he pointed out Kurt.

Blaine relaxed and looked at the photo, "Your friend is kind of cute."

Finn laughed, "Kurt was so mad when we took this picture, we didn't give him time to fix his hair. He is studying fashion is New York now."

"If I had made a different decision I would be in New York now too. I was accepted into NYADA , that is…"

"New York Academy of Dramatic Arts." Finn finished for him. Blaine looked a surprised that Finn knew that. "A girl I went to school with was obsessed with going there. She choked during her audition though and then got in trouble for stalking the audition judge." Finn explained.

"Ah…" Blaine said clearly not knowing what to say next.

"So why marines instead of NYADA?" Finn asked.

Blaine looked thoughtful as he chose his words, "I had my NYADA acceptance letter in my hands and all I had to do was mark the little box that said that I wanted go there in the fall quarter but something kept me from making that tiny little 'x'. A voice in my head told me that it wasn't what I should do. I took a walk to clear my head and found myself at a recruitment office. The officer there told me about the proud heritage of the marine corps, he didn't push me to join but gave me some information to take home. I found myself going back every day for a week and thought about it for a month before I decided to join up. When I signed the enlistment papers it felt right. Why did you join?"

Finn fidgeted on the bed, "It was a lot of things I guess, no one thing made me join. A lot of family members had served and that was part of it. I had a stack of colleges that accepted me but I don't know I couldn't imagine sitting in a classroom right now. I think a big part of it was that ever since I was a little kid I wanted to wear the uniform. The uniform represents so much to me, my dad wore it."

Blaine nodded "Well whatever the reason I am glad that you are here."

"Same here, I trust you to have my back." Finn said he lay down and closed his eyes. "Get some rest Blaine you will need it tomorrow." He heard the other man grunt in agreement. Finn let his mind wonder what he would be doing if he had made a different decision. What would he be doing now if he had chosen to go to Yale with Santana? Would he be studying for finals with her? Would he have a girlfriend? He smiled at the thought.

A/N So no fuinn yet but it will be coming. I know that I said that this chapter would jump ahead but at last minute I changed my mind. I still haven't made up my mind about writing any 'M' stuff yet so if you want it you have to let me know. If at least 5 people want it then I will. I am not sure when the next chapter will be up. I will try to not make you wait too long.


	3. Chapter 3 Freedom Found in a Haircut

A/N I turns out that due to an evil wisdom tooth I couldn't sleep so I wrote instead, good for my readers bad for my mood. I would like to thank everyone that has reviewed and/or followed this story. To those that reviewed I wanted to say that 1) I would never abandon a story, even if it takes forever I plan on finishing. 2) It looks like you all want me to write some 'M' material, it will come later but it will be there. I will consider changing the rating then. As always I don't own glee or its characters. I tried bidding on it on ebay but all I got were the dvds.

Chapter Three – Found Freedom in a Haircut

_The Lopez home_

Quinn's pov

Finals were over and she had registered for her winter classes. Quinn had never felt as scared as when she hit the select button for her new classes. Gone were the finance and accounting courses, now her schedule was filled with courses about how to write the next great work of fiction. She felt bad about misleading her parents but at the same time she felt a weight lifted off of her. It was starting to sink in that this was her life and not theirs and it was time that she started to live it.

Classes were over for the next few weeks and she was now staying at Santana's house. She had been here before, having been invited to Sunday dinner with Santana and her parents but it was a little different being here with just Santana. She had settled into the guest room and was enjoying having a larger bed than the twin bed that she had been sleeping in for the last three months. She finally got out of bed when she heard signs of life from Santana.

The bedroom door opened quietly and she saw Santana peek her head into the room, "Q are you awake?" Santana said just above a whisper.

"I am up; I have been for a little while." Quinn said as she stretched in her warm bed.

Santana rushed into the room and jumped onto the bed causing it to bounce under her weight. "Good, we have a lot to do today. Get up." She said with a mischievous grin.

Not moving from her warm spot Quinn asked, "What kind of things San?"

Santana pulled at the blankets like a kid, "I thought we could start your makeover today if that was still something you wanted to do."

Quinn let Santana pull back her blanket and sat up, "Yeah that sounds like a good plan. Let me take a shower and I will meet you downstairs."

Santana nodded and hopped off of the bed, "Alright, I will start breakfast, we will need our energy for a day of shopping." She walked out of the room with a little skip in her step. Quinn laughed to herself at Santana's excitement and got out of the bed and made her way to the bathroom next door to her room.

After adjusting the water temperature she shed her pajamas and stepped into the hot water. She grabbed the shampoo and started to build up a lather as started to sing a song she had heard Santana play a couple of times.

_I know a girl from a lonely street  
Cold as ice cream but still as sweet  
Dry your eyes Sunday girl  
Hey, I saw your guy with a different girl  
Looks like he's in another world  
Run and hide Sunday girl_

Hurry up, hurry up and wait  
I say awake all week and still I wait  
I got the blues, please come see  
What your loving means to me

She can't catch up with the working crowd  
The weekend mood and she's feeling proud  
Live in dreams Sunday girl

Baby, I would like to go out tonight  
If I go with you my folks'll get uptight  
Stay at home Sunday girl

Hey, I saw your guy with a different girl  
Looks like he's in another world  
Run and hide Sunday girl

When I saw you again in the summertime  
If your love was as sweet as mine  
I could be Sunday's girl

Hurry up, hurry up and wait  
I say awake all week and still I wait  
I got the blues, please come see  
What your loving means to me  
I got the blues

Quinn was just rinsing out the conditioner when she heard a knock at the bathroom door and it opened an inch or two, "Hey Q breakfast is ready." Santana called through the slightly cracked door.

"I will be down in a minute." Quinn said as she shut the water off. She heard Santana go downstairs as she dried off. She slipped on a pair of sweats and hoodie as she dried her long hair as best she could. She hurried down the stairs to see what Santana made. A part of her was surprised that the girl could cook. She was pleased to see a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon placed in her hands as she entered the kitchen.

"Eat. I didn't know that you could sing. I hope you left me some hot water." Santana said as she munched on a piece of bacon.

"I don't sing very often, my parents didn't approve. You made me bacon." Quinn said happily. "My favorite."

Santana rolled her eyes, "I know Q, I have lived with you for the last three months, if nothing else I know of your love of bacon."

Quinn rolled her eyes in return, "I didn't know that you were paying attention."

"Kind of hard not to notice when you empty the bacon try almost every morning in the cafeteria." Santana teased. "I am done so the rest of the pork candy is yours, I am hopping in the shower and then we can start step one of the Quinn makeover or as I have been calling it in my head Operation SQUEE."

"Squee?"

Santana nodded proudly as she was about to go out the kitchen door, "It stands for Sexy Quinn Under Excessive Ensembles."

As Santana left to shower Quinn grabbed another piece of bacon and shook her head in disbelief, this was going to be an interesting weekend.

_A few hours later- at a hair salon _

Santana looked nervous as she shifted from foot to foot, "Are you sure Q? I mean new clothes are a big step but cutting your hair is huge."

Quinn nodded with determination, she could do this, and she was going to do this. She had always had long hair; never once had she had any desire to cut it other than to trim it. She saw her hair as a tether to her past, one more thing to hold her back. Quinn knew that it would take more than a new wardrobe and haircut to make the transition to the person that she wanted to be but it was a start. "It is only hair San, it will grow back." She said as the stylist started to cut.

Santana placed a hand on Quinn's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze, "Okay if you are sure, I think the shorter cut will look hot as hell on you if you don't mind me saying."

Quinn rolled her eyes and smirked, something she was doing with a lot more frequency, "San, do you ever stop with the flirting?"

Santana took a step back and shook her head, "Whoa, you thought that was flirting, oh Q, you poor sheltered girl. That wasn't flirting, that was me telling you a simple truth." She leaned forward, invading Quinn's personal space and whispered in the blonde's ear, "You will know if I ever flirt with you."

Old Quinn would have turned a deep shade of red at her roommate's words and even new Quinn turned a little pink but at least new Quinn had a comeback, "Oh San, you can flirt all you want but I have a feeling that all you are going to get is disappointment." She said as she patted Santana's cheek in a condescending way.

Her rebuffed roommate stuck her tongue out at her but then smiled, "Q as much as I like you I have a feeling that if we ever got together we would kill each other. Besides I think I am too much woman for you. You couldn't handle all of this." Santana said gesturing to her body with a wink.

All Quinn could do was laugh, "You are so right San, way too much woman for me, I will stick to men."

"Well someone has to date them." Santana said with a shrug.

"Did you ever date boys?" Quinn asked as she closed her eyes, she listened to fast sounds of the scissors cutting through her hair.

She heard Santana sit in the empty chair beside her, "You know I never have."

"Did you always know that you liked girls?" Quinn was curious.

"I don't know, I never consciously thought about it. When I was thirteen I started to notice that I was more interested in watching Rose than Jack."

"Rose and Jack?" Quinn questioned.

"You know the characters in Titanic." Quinn stayed silent and Santana said incredulously, "Don't tell me you haven't watched the movie, god you really were sheltered. When we get home we will watch it. Anyway there is a scene where Rose is naked and I couldn't take my eyes off of her. My brother noticed. I made him watch it with me sense I sat through watching football with him."

"What did your brother do when he noticed you staring?"

"Finn isn't exactly the most tactful person in the world; he very simply said that it was okay if I liked girls, he liked them too. It wasn't until he said that that I started to think about it. Knowing that he was okay with it helped, I was able to accept who I am a lot more easily."

"Your brother sounds like a good guy."

"He is a great guy; he has always been there for me." Santana admitted.

"You can open your eyes dear, I am done." The stylist said to Quinn. She opened her eyes to see the new Quinn staring back at her in the mirror. Her hair was cut into a short punky style that fit much better with her wardrobe of jeans and slim button up shirts.

"Like I said Q you look hot." Santana said approvingly. "You like it?" she asked as Quinn stood and went to pay.

"I do, I really do. It feels right, besides this will be so much easier to take care of." Quinn rationalized. They walked out to the parking lot to Santana's car. "So Finn is your older brother?"

"Actually I am three days older than him." Santana said as she started the car.

"How is that possible, twins?" Quinn said trying to make sense of what Santana just said.

"Q it is a long story, I will tell you when we get home." Santana promised as she drove.

Quinn ran a hand through her new short hair, it would take I little while to get used to. It amazed her that by cutting half of her hair off she felt so much lighter, freer. "Okay." They listened to the radio on the short drive to the Lopez house. Ten minutes later they pulled into Santana's driveway and unloaded Quinn's bags of new clothes.

Santana's pov

Once inside and settled on the couch Santana started her story, she took a framed picture of her and a young man and handed it to Quinn. "Okay this is Finn."

Quinn stared at the photo; the young man had dark brown hair and chocolate colored eyes that Quinn could feel herself getting lost in. He had a somewhat goofy half smile on his face that Quinn found charming. She could tell that he was tall but most importantly he looked nothing like her latina friend. "He doesn't look like you." Quinn said stating the obvious.

Santana smirked, "That is because he is adopted, well sort of adopted. So like twenty years ago when my parents first got married my dad was in his third year of medical school but had to drop out because of tuition issues so he decided to join the navy. He figured that with the G.I. bill he could finish school after serving for four years. He signed up to be a corpsman, which is like a medic. He was assigned to a marine unit in the middle east during the Gulf War. I guess the marines don't train to have medics of their own. So anyway he met Christopher over there, Finn's dad." She clarified before continuing. "They were in the same unit and become friends, it turns out that my mom lived near Christopher's wife house and they become friends too. After a while they were given leave and came home for a month and when they went back to finish their tour of duty both my mom and Carole were pregnant."

"Carole?" Quinn asked.

"Finn's mom." Santana said. "So back to the story, about a month before we were due our dads came home. I was born on July 6th and Finn came on the 9th. I was a little small so the hospital kept me for a few days. Finn and I were in side by side cribs. Somewhere there is a picture of us in the hospital nursery. Anyway about a month after we were born our dads were sent back and our moms moved in together to help each other out. Less than a month later there was an attack on the Humvee that our dads were riding in, my dad was knocked out from an explosion and Christopher pulled him free from the burning truck." Quinn could see that Santana was having trouble continuing, that telling the story was upsetting her. She took Santana's hand and squeezed. Santana gave her a small smile before continuing, "Sorry it is just to think that I could have lost my dad before I even got the chance to know him." Her eyes watered a little, "Finn never got that chance. My dad was told that Christopher shielded him when the Humvee blew up. My dad should have been killed but…instead it was Finn's." Santana was quiet for about a minute, "My dad was given a medical discharge and was sent home. They had been stationed out of Virginia at the time and my family decided to move back up here so my dad could finish med school. Finn's mom had no one, she was left all alone to raise him. She had no family and Christopher had an older brother but he had his own family to take care of and was stationed overseas. My parents asked her to make the move with them. She agreed since there was nothing keeping her there.

Santana got up and walked to the mantle and picked up another photo, she showed it to Quinn. It showed a baby Santana with an equally pudgy Finn. "We moved into a small house near campus, Finn and I shared a crib. My mom got a job as an illustrator for a small publishing company where she could work from home and Aunt Carole started to go to nursing school. We all lived together for two years, almost three years when the accident happened."

"What kind of accident?" asked Quinn who was clearly sucked into the story.

"It was one of the first snow falls of the year and Aunt Carole was on her way home from the hospital. Usually she rode with my dad but he was working the night shift that night. She was almost home when a car in the other lane lost control and crashed head on into her car. We were told that it happened so fast that she didn't even feel it." Santana was openly crying now.

"San you can stop, if this is too much…" Quinn started to say when Santana raised a hand.

"No I am almost done." She protested, she wiped her eyes, "Finn's only remaining family was his uncle but he couldn't take him, he had a sick wife and was stationed in Japan. My parents couldn't bear the thought of Finn being a ward of the state so they decided to adopt him, it helped that they were already his godparents. I already thought that he was family. We were too young to understand what had happened to Aunt Carole, we were sad that she didn't come home but as little kids we bounced back pretty fast. Finn had always called my parents momma and poppa like I did. We grew up that way it wasn't until we were a bit older that my parent told us about what happened to Finn's parents. So there you have it, we not share the same blood but he is my brother, the only one a have."

Quinn sat in silence, it was quite the powerful story, it explained a lot about how protective her friend was of her brother, he had lost a lot at a very young age. She got up and hugged her friend. It was a simple gesture. After a few minutes Santana pulled away and cleared the tears that had fallen, "Enough of this, let's watch Titanic and cry for different reasons." She said with a shaky laugh.

"Okay. You aren't going to drool when this Rose woman comes on screen right?" Quinn teased.

"I might and there is nothing you can do about it." Santana said clearly feeling better. "Since you have been so deprived of good entertainment I think we should make a night of movies."

"Sounds like a good plan." Quinn agreed, anything to lighten the mood.

After a three movie marathon in which Quinn picked the last movie, she had picked 'Zombieland' and she loved it, while Santana was not a big fan. "You and Finn would get along great; he loves those stupid zombie movies." She commented as they picked up the empty snack bowls. She wasn't sure if Quinn heard her since she was already in the kitchen. The more she thought about it she realized that Finn and Quinn were perfect for each other, they both loved the undead, had similar senses of humor and they both loved reading, Finn had a huge library in his room, hell even their names rhymed. A plan started to form in Santana's mind, it wouldn't be easy since Finn was on the opposite side of the country and at any time he could be shipped out overseas but if she could find a way to get them together she knew they could work. "I am going to bed Q!" she called as she headed upstairs to her room, she had plans to make.

A/N Don't hunt me down to beat me I know that there isn't any Fuinn yet but it is coming. I felt that it was important to setup Finn's backstory. By the way the song that Quinn sings is Sunday Girl by Blonde. Next update won't be until next week. As always I love the reviews.


	4. Chapter 4 New York and New Friends

A/N So it has been a little while since I last posted, I know that I said I would have a new chapter a few weeks ago. My work load doubled and I have been working insane hours trying to keep track of ten people. In my defense this was a difficult chapter for me to write and I restarted it a few times, I am still not completely happy with it but decided to post it anyway. Standard disclaimer, I don't own glee or its characters, all mistakes are mine. Enjoy.

Chapter 4 New York and New Friends

Quinn's pov

_A week before Christmas_

With her new makeover Quinn was feeling adventurous and was really looking forward to her and Santana's trip to New York City. Santana had made arrangements to stay with a friend of hers in the city so they didn't have to stay in a cheap hotel. They were currently on the train and were almost there. "What do you want to do first Q? We have some time before we meet up with Kurt." Santana asked as Quinn watched the landscape change as they got closer to the city.

"I don't know. I guess I want to do the typical tourist things, visit Rockefeller Center, go to the top of the Empire State building…those types of things." Quinn answered.

Santana nodded, "I think we can fit some of those things in. Kurt will want to go to Rockefeller with us, he loves that tree. Maybe we could go to the Natural History Museum first, I haven't been there in years."

"Sounds like a plan." Quinn said with a smile as she saw the skyline of the city take shape.

It wasn't long until they reached the city. Kurt had given them instructions to bring their backpacks to his apartment; his roommate would be home and would let them in. It was a good thing that Santana was familiar with subway system because Quinn couldn't make heads or tails of all of the different lines. After a half an hour ride on the subway they found themselves in Brooklyn walking up four flights of stairs to the small apartment the theatre major shared. Santana leaned up against the door panting. "He couldn't have rented a place with an elevator." Santana mumbled as she knocked on the door, after a minute the door was opened by a good looking wet man, he was only wearing a towel and had well defined muscles that Quinn was having a hard time keeping her eyes from staring at. "Don't stare. Don't stare." She thought to herself she hadn't spent a lot of time around half naked men.

The towel clad man spoke, "You must be Kurt's friends. I am Brody. He should be back this evening, he had to help with last minute fittings for our winter recital." Both girls stayed quiet but nodded. "Oh, come on in." He opened the door wider to let them pass by into the apartment. "I will go put some clothes on. Kurt wanted me to give you the spare key so that you could come and go as you please." He left the two speechless girls alone in the living room.

Santana dropped her backpack and let out a quiet laugh. "Now I know why Kurt would put up with this apartment, it came with eye candy." She smirked as she helped Quinn take off her backpack. Quinn took a quick look around the apartment, it was small. The living room was connected to the kitchen with an island separating the two. There was a short hallway with three doors that Quinn guessed lead to two bedrooms and the bathroom. It was small but homey and stylish, going by what San had told her about Kurt it was his influence on the decorations.

Her thoughts were interrupted by their host, "I have to get going but make yourselves at home. I am leaving for home tomorrow but I hope to hang out with all of you tonight."

"It was nice to meet you Brody, see you tonight." Santana said with a smile.

Santana was staring intently on Quinn, when Quinn realized that San was waiting for her to speak too. "Um yeah, thanks for letting us stay here, we really appreciate it." Quinn managed to get out. She earned a smile from the handsome man.

"Oh no problem, any friend of Kurt's. Well almost any friend of his." He said with a shake of his head. "His little stalker is kind of annoying. I better go, I don't want to be late for my lunch date. See ya." He called back as he shut the door.

"Stalker?" Quinn questioned.

Santana shrugged, "We will have to ask him about it tonight." She picked up the key off the coffee table. "So should we go to the museum?"

Quinn nodded excitedly, "Yeah."

Santana grabbed her wallet from her backpack and put in the inside pocket of her winter coat. "Okay then lets' go."

_Several hours later back at Kurt's apartment_

After exploring the city for a few hours Quinn was in love, New York had everything, well at least it seemed that way compared to Lima. Santana had taken her to the Natural History Museum, she had explained that it had been her and Finn's favorite place to visit when they were little kids. Quinn had watch Santana's faced light up when she had taken her hand and lead her to the dinosaur skeleton and the mastodon. It had been a great afternoon and both girls were a little tired and more than a little hungry. They had made their way back to Kurt's apartment and were resting on his couch. Quinn heard the front door open and a friendly voice called out "Honey I'm home!"

Santana jumped up from the couch and cried in a sarcastic but friendly tone, "Darling! I thought you would never get here."

Quinn watched Santana hug a young thin man, he was well dressed in form fitting sweater with equally tight charcoal colored skinny jeans with bright red chuck taylor sneakers with jingle bells attached a bright green and red scarf completed the ensamble. "Oh Satan I missed you too." He chuckled as he released Santana. "You must be Quinn, since San is terribly rude I will have to introduce myself; Kurt Hummel, your host extraordinaire."

With a mock angry look Santana swatted at Kurt's shoulder, "Hey I would have gotten around to introducing the two of you, you were too impatient as always. Q this is Porcelain, Porcelain this is my roommate and new best friend Q." She said with a defiant smirk.

"Porcelain?" Quinn asked.

"Have you not noticed my perfect complexion?" Kurt said teasingly as he gestured to his blemish free face. "Santana used to have horrible acne and was jealous of my perfect skin." He said with a smirk of his own.

Santana looked horrified, "You lie!" she turned to Quinn, "I never had acne, he is lying through his bleached white teeth. We call him Porcelain because he looks like one of those Hummel figurines." She said as she stuck her tongue out at Kurt. "Tell her that you are lying Hummel or I will show her the picture of you with blonde highlights." She threatened.

Kurt's face went from teasing to mortified in a split second. "You swore that those pictures were destroyed and that we would never speak of the debacle."

Santana merely smiled.

Kurt took a deep breath and exhaled, "Santana as always had perfect skin and hair and is the picture of beauty. I lied, my nickname does come from the very slight similarity to the famous collectible items."

Quinn held back laughter throughout the entire spat, Kurt did look like the figurines, she could totally picture him a sheep herders outfit. "So you had blond highlights?" she asked with a smile.

Kurt shook his head, "Once, for about five minutes before we decided that it was a disaster and dyed my hair back to normal. You promised me that there was no evidence." He said glaring a little at his childhood friend.

Santana laughed, "There are no pictures Kurt, your secret is safe." Kurt breathed a sigh of relief and went to hang up his coat. "I totally have pictures, I will show you when we get back home. They are hilarious." Santana whispered when she saw that Kurt was out of sight. Quinn giggled and nodded.

Kurt returned wearing a different but still stylish sweater, "If I know Satan she is starving and in need of nourishment. I would be failing my hosting duties if I didn't escort you both to an eating establishment."

"That was Kurt speak for lets go find food." Santana said while making a face at him.

Quinn shook her head and laughed, "I know what he said San. Let's not argue and go get food, I am starving."

Kurt smiled, "You heard the Princess Grace look-a-like, let's go I know a great place nearby that has the best breadsticks." He handed each of the girls their coats. "If you thought that the story of my ill-advised highlights was amusing wait until you hear about Santana's perm in the eighth grade." He said as he ushered them out of the door. Quinn laughed as Santana groaned.

_Undisclosed mountain area on the west coast_

Finn's pov

Finn rubbed his gloved hands together, he was losing feeling in his fingers, and he couldn't have that. He and Blaine had been assigned to lead a war game that took place during little to no visibility snow storm. They had been out in the elements for the last two days. It was miserable but Finn had caught sight of the 'enemy' a few hours before and they had followed them to their base camp. Now it was a waiting game, the plan was to wait until nightfall and capture the enemy as they slept. Unfortunately nightfall wasn't for a few more hours and they couldn't risk making a fire. Finn was so focused on the camp in the valley below him that he almost didn't hear Blaine come up behind him. He spun around with his paintball gun and had it leveled on his teammate. Blaine put up his hands, "Just me Finn, I came to see if you wanted me to relieve you." Blaine said quietly.

Finn put his gun down and patted the ground beside him, "Sorry man, I am fine. Sit; tell me what you see."

Blaine sat and took out his scope and scanned the 'enemy' camp. "I see three tents, they look like they hold three people per, a campfire, the lucky bastards, and two posted sentry guards." He put the scope down. "So we come in from the north, west and east slopes and drive them to the south where they will be pinned in by the mountainside."

Nodding Finn agreed, "Yeah, that's the plan." He turned to look at the rest of their unit, "The guys resting?" he asked.

"Uh huh, I told them that now was the time, you should get some rest too." Blaine answered.

"Nah, I couldn't sleep, besides I am not using up too much energy laying here." Finn replied as he stretched a little.

"Well if you aren't going to rest then keep me company, I am bored." Blaine smiled as he found a more comfortable position.

"Bored huh? Well as the most senior here I guess it is my job to entertain you." Finn joked quietly. "How can I amuse you Private Anderson?"

Blaine raised an eyebrow, "Tell me a little about yourself PFC Hudson, I know that you have a sister any other family? Girlfriend?"

Finn's eyes never leaving the camp below them, "No other siblings but Santana. I was adopted when I was around three. My dad is a trauma surgeon, and my mom is a book illustrator and editor."

"You are adopted? Wow, I guess that makes sense, I didn't think that you looked like your sister from the picture you have. Your parents have cool jobs, is Santana in college?" Blaine asked as he opened a freeze dried meal and added some water to it. He took two sporks from his pack and offered one to Finn.

Finn took the eating utensil and dug into the cold chicken and rice ready meal. "San is attending Yale, she is studying medicine like dad."

Blaine swallowed before nodding a little, "Impressive, you sound proud."

"I am, she is going to be one hell of a doctor." Finn said sincerely.

Blaine took another bite of their meal and said, "So don't think that I didn't notice that you skipped the girlfriend question. Spill."

Finn shrugged, "Nothing to spill, no girlfriend. Never really had a girlfriend. To be honest I really didn't date in high school."

Blaine stopped chewing and swallowed abruptly, "You… you never had a girlfriend or dated?" You do like girls don't you? Shit I am sorry I didn't mean it that way."

Finn chuckled a little under his breath, "Sorry Blaine I don't play for your team, I like girls but I had my reasons for not dating in high school."

Blaine gave Finn the rest of the cold meal and wiped his spork before putting it away, "What kind of reasons? I overheard that you were captain of almost all of the sports teams, weren't the girls all over you?"

"I guess I was popular but I really didn't care about that, I had my friends and that is what mattered to me. As far as dating went, I never found anyone that I wanted to be with." Finn said as he finished his food. He handed Blaine the used utensil. "Thanks."

They sat quietly for a few minutes before Blaine spoke again, "What about the pictures that you showed me that your sister sent a while back, I remember seeing a short brunette girl wearing a 'Finn' necklace. I figured that she was an old girlfriend."

Finn shook his head and said a single word, "Rachel."

"Rachel?" Blaine asked.

"We were in glee together."

"And? There has to be more than that." Blaine prompted.

Finn sunk a little more into the snow and rubbed his hands again, "I guess she had a crush on me and didn't take rejection well."

"What happened?"

"Remember I told you about the girl that stalked the NYADA interviewer? That was Rachel. She was…well she probably still is super intense. In high school I was always busy, either with sports or school work, glee or my part time job at a garage; I really didn't have time for dating. We got paired up quite a bit in glee because she was one of the better singers and I was a good all-around singer. It would have been awkward to be paired up with my sister on love songs after all. Rachel thought it was fate that we were put together and that it meant that we were supposed to be together. I tried to let her down easy and when that didn't work I told her that I didn't think of her in that way. She wouldn't take the hint and started showing up at my house, I thought Santana was going to kill her, they really didn't get along." Finn explained.

"She sounds more crazy than intense. I am guessing that she scared off any sane girls." Blaine said sympathetically.

"There was one girl that I kind of liked but Rachel chased her off before anything could happen."

"Dude I am so sorry, she sounds like a nightmare."

Finn nodded, "You should have seen her at my going away party, she was crying and telling everyone that we were engaged and that I was getting her named tattooed on my chest."

"Wow." Blaine said slowly. "Well now I know why you joined up, to get away from your psycho fan club."

Finn laughed quietly, "Yeah."

Blaine patted his shoulder, "I am sure that there is a much less insane girl out there for you."

"Thanks man, I hope so. You know I think I will try and get some rest if you are okay standing guard." Finn said as he stifled a yawn.

"Sure, we need you alert. We cannot have the enemy hear us coming because you cannot stop yawning." Blaine kidded as Finn slowly and quietly got up for his concealed position. Finn nodded and silently went to where his pack was and grabbed his blanket. He closed his eyes and let his mind drift off.

_Two days before Christmas on the train home_

Santana's pov

New York had been more fun than Santana thought possible, Kurt and Quinn got along really well and had way too much fun ganging up on her. Kurt had decided to join them on the train home. He was currently asleep and snoring softly leaned up against Santana while Quinn was watching Netflix on her phone. Over the last couple of weeks Santana had noticed a change in Quinn, it wasn't just her appearance that had changed her whole attitude had improved. From the first time she had met the girl she knew that she needed to let go and relax. She genuinely cared for her new friend and could see a long lasting friendship between the two of them. Santana liked how Quinn didn't take any of her bullshit and had gotten a lot better at dishing it out. Not many could banter with her and not run away in tears.

Santana was convinced that if she could find a way for Finn and Quinn to interact then sparks would fly but after two week of trying she still didn't have a plan. She thought of asking Kurt for help but the boy had surprised her and beat her to it. Santana thought back to earlier that morning; Quinn was in the shower, and Kurt was eating his yogurt when he said out of nowhere, "I could see Finn falling in love with her." He said gesturing to the bathroom door with his spoon. "She is perfect for him. Too bad they don't live in the same time zone."

"I know, I have been trying to think of a way to get them together but I'm coming up empty in the ideas department." Santana said frustrated.

Kurt shrugged, "I don't know what to say, I think Quinn is great and you know that I love Finn but after the last time I promised Finn that I would stay out of his love life or lack of love life."

Santana had nodded and stayed silent, the last time they had meddled in Finn's love life the poor girl had to move. Unfortunately the conversation had been cut short when the blond came into the kitchen fresh from her shower.

"Hey San, we are here." She heard Quinn say as she snapped back to the present.

Santana nodded as she shrugged her shoulders causing Kurt's head to bounce off of her shoulder, waking him up.

"Hey." He grumbled as he wiped sleep from his eyes. "Are we there yet?"

"Yes we are Porcelain, you slept the whole trip. I finally have proof that you snore too. I recorded it on my phone and I have Q as my witness." Santana said triumphantly.

Kurt groaned and grabbed his bag from the overhead compartment. "I don't know how you live with her Q, I would kill her after the first week."

Santana scoffed before Quinn could speak, "You know that you love me Hummel, you are just jealous that I have so much awesomeness in such a small well-toned sexy package."

Quinn smiled, "Well you can't argue with logic like that."

Kurt just shook his head and walked towards the doors. "Come on you two if you want a ride, my parents aren't going to hang around forever."

Both girls grabbed their bags since neither wanted to walk or wait for a taxi. Santana smiled sweetly at Kurt "Don't worry you snore like a chipmunk, it was cute."

They saw Kurt's parents waving to them in the waiting area and headed in their direction. Santana hugged Burt's mom, Lydia and dad Burt while Kurt introduced Quinn to them. Santana had always like Kurt's parents, Lydia had been diagnosed with cancer when they were little kids but had fought it and had been in remission for years. Burt was the kind of dad that everyone wanted. When Kurt had come out to his parents, Burt didn't hesitate in telling Kurt that it changed nothing between them.

The ride back to the Lopez house was lively with Kurt filling in his parents on news from school and of his and the girls adventures in the city and before they knew it they were pulling into the drive way. Lydia invited them to share Christmas dinner with them and since neither girl was really wanting to cook they eagerly accepted the invite. After getting their bags from the trunk, Santana unlocked the front door and waved goodbye. She dropped her bags unceremoniously on the floor and went straight to the couch leaving Quinn to close the door and pick up her bag which was blocking the door. Quinn brought both bags to the table by the stairs and plugged the Christmas tree lights in before joining Santana on the couch. "It's good to be back, I loved the city but it is good to be home too." Quinn said as she put her head down on the arm rest of the couch, closing her eyes.

Santana was about to agree but saw that the blond was asleep. She got up and put the throw blanket that was draped over the couch over Quinn.

_New Year's Eve_

Quinn's pov

Christmas break was flying by for Quinn, it seemed like final exams had just finished but New Year's Day was right around the corner and that meant that her new classes would be starting soon. She felt an odd sense of excitement and nervousness when she thought about the upcoming quarter, as much as she hated deceiving her parents deep down she knew it was the right thing for her to do. Santana had been right when she said that Quinn had been miserable, what was the point in going to Yale if she didn't at least try to take the classes that she wanted.

Quinn was watching an old re-run of Firefly with Santana when she let her mind wander. Christmas had come and gone in the blink of an eye, Santana had introduced her to quite a few of her old high school friends that had come home for the holidays. Quinn had felt an almost instant bond with Mercedes and Tina. Santana had described Mercedes as a diva and Quinn thought that term diva suited the girl quite well. Tina was a lot quieter but Quinn could tell that just because the girl didn't speak up loudly didn't mean that she didn't have things to say. It kind of amazed her that all of these people could be such good friends; they were all so different from each other. Quinn might have gone to a small all-girls school but they still had cliques. She really couldn't see how Kurt, who when she met him was wearing a multi-colored silk scarf and ¾ length sweater and super skinny jeans, could be best friends with Finn, who from what she could see from Santana's family photos had been an all-state football player. When she had asked Santana the girl had just laughed and said that she really didn't know, that one day in the second grade Finn came home with the well-dressed boy and proclaimed him his new best friend and that the rest was history. Quinn was snapped back to reality when she heard her phone chirp, signaling that she had a new e-mail.

She was excited to see that it was from one of her new English teachers, attached was the course syllabus. Quinn was almost giddy when she opened the e-mail, her excitement waned a bit when she saw that she already had been assigned homework. With a sigh Quinn set her phone back down on the coffee table. Santana turned off the television and asked, "What is the matter Q? Bad news?"

Quinn shook her head at first but then shrugged her shoulders, "My composition professor sent us our first assignment, she has decided that in the age of e-mails, text messaging and instant messaging that letter writing is a lost art form so we are going to be writing a series of letters."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Santana said as she pulled her legs up on the couch to hug her knees.

"It wouldn't be but she wants us to write to real people and I don't have anyone to write to. It's not like I can write to my parents, they would have questions. I haven't any cousins or other relatives except for an aunt and she would tell my parents about it. I didn't really have any friends at my old school. I don't know what to do." Quinn said in frustration as she picked at a loose thread on her pants.

Santana's pov

Santana was about to suggest that she write to Tina or Mercedes but then the gears started to turn in her head. This was exactly what she needed to get Operation Fuinn going. Nonchalantly Santana suggested, "What about Finn?"

Quinn looked up, "Your brother?" she said slightly confused.

"Yeah."

"I don't know your brother San and he doesn't know me."

"Think of it as pen-pals, over time you will get to know one another." Santana countered. "Besides Finn loves getting letters, he won't let us send him e-mails. He said that he prefers being able to touch and hold our letters, something about him being able to feel closer to us when he can hold the paper." Santana could see that Quinn still looked skeptical, "Think about it Q, it doesn't sound like you have a lot of options."

"Do you think he would want to help?" Quinn asked and Santana felt like throwing a fist in the air for victory but maintained her calm.

"I do."

"He would have to write back." Quinn pointed out.

"I don't think he would have a problem with that, he likes to write."

Quinn looked deep in thought for a while before saying, "Alright, if you think that he would go for it."

Santana resisted performing a happy dance but instead said, "I was going to write him today anyway and I will ask him to help you out. Why don't you write him and tell him about the assignment?"

Quinn nodded, "I could do that. Why don't you tell me a little more about him so that I am not writing to a complete stranger."

Santana stretched out, "What would you like to know about Finnocence?"

Quinn laughed softly at his nickname, "I don't know, what are his hobbies, what kind of guy is he?" she asked.

Santana stood up and walked to the staircase, "Follow me." She commanded and Quinn followed. Santana led the two of them to the door next to her room. "This is Finn's room."

Shaking her head Quinn refused, "I am not poking around your brother's private things San."

Santana rolled her eyes, "Who said anything about digging around? We are not even going in, I figured instead of telling you it would be better for you to just see it."

"See what?"

"You can tell a lot about someone by seeing their room." She said as she opened the door.

Quinn's pov

Before seeing the inside of the room Quinn had formed a mental idea of who Finn was but when she looked inside she realized that she had the wrong idea about him. She had assumed that because of the fact that there were a lot of pictures of the tall boy performing sports that he was a dumb jock but that wouldn't explain the many full bookshelves in his room. Nor would it account for the multiple musical instruments around the room. "All of this is his?" Quinn asked as she scanned the room.

"Yep, he has read all the books in here and most of the books in the den too. My parents encouraged us to read a lot as kids." Santana answered.

"The instruments too?" Quinn asked as she pointed to the guitar and drum set in the corner.

"Yeah, also the piano downstairs. Mom taught us when we were four. Finn usually plays the drums though to relax." Santana said as she reached for the doorknob to close the door. "I know that you probably think that Finn is the typical jock but he really isn't. He may come off as a dumb football player but it's just an act. He got great grades in school and he had his choice of colleges, between athletic scholarships and academic ones he could have gone anywhere but he chose the military. That is the type of guy he is." With that Santana left Quinn alone with her thoughts. "Maybe writing to Finn wouldn't be too bad." Quinn thought as she went to grab her notebook from her room, so she could start her letter to him.

A/N Don't hate me for yet another chapter with no fuinn but it really is coming, next chapter will have some. I don't know when the next chapter will be posted, work is crazy right now and my writing time is limited but it won't be as long of wait as this chapter. Hang in there fuinn shippers. As always I love the reviews.


	5. Chapter 5 Letters

A/N First things first, thank you for the follows and reviews. It makes my day to see new reviews. Second I want to tell you fuinn shippers to hang in there, there is some fuinn in this chapter but the real fuinn action is coming, just be patient. So let's get the legal stuff out of the way, I don't own glee, its characters, and while I have read and listened to all of them I don't own any of the rights to the books or music that are mentioned in this chapter.

Chapter 5 Letters

_Barracks_

Finn's pov

It really sucked that he had missed Christmas and New Year's Day. Finn loved the holidays but duty came first. His unit had been successful in capturing the 'enemy' with no casualties. He was proud of what they had done but knew that it was only a matter of time before these war games stopped being games and it would just be war. Finn tried to push these thoughts out of his mind. He went to see if he had any mail, there was a letter from his parents, one from Kurt and one from Santana. The one from Santana was extra thick so he decided to open it first. Inside he saw two smaller envelopes, they had been opened and scanned and resealed, security had read them first. There were two different hand writings on the envelopes; one he recognized as his sister's the other was unknown. He opened Santana's first.

_Merry Christmas Bumble (you know the abominable snowman?  
You are both giant and live in the snow it fits so suck on that bro),_

_Hey Finn I hope you are doing okay and not freezing to death out there in the mountains. Things are pretty great here, Quinn and I went to visit Kurt in the city, Q had never been.  
Porcelain was his usually charming self, did you know that he is shacked up with a honest to god underwear model? He swears that they are just roommates and this Brody guyhas a boyfriend back home but I think that there is something else going on there. _

_Anyway life is good for me, I got the classes that I wanted and aced my finals, but I'm awesome so it was to be expected. I know that you told me to try and meet some new girls but I am not ready yet. And before you think it I am not hung up on Britt, I just want a break from relationship drama. Besides I am way too busy with school…and being awesome._

_You may have noticed that there are two letters instead of one and dun dun dun the second one isn't from me, I need you to do me a favor. My roommate Quinn has decided to follow her dream of pursuing an English degree. Her parents are against it so she having to keep it a secret. She has an assignment where she has to write letters to a real person and get responses back, this is where you come in little brother. She wrote to you after I suggested it, she has no one else. You would be her hero. Now I know that you don't know her other than when I have mentioned her but she is great. You actually have a lot in common, so give it a chance. Give her a chance. Besides you love getting letters. You can address your responses to me and I will make sure that she gets them. Thanks for helping out in advance Finn. See I already know that you have decided to help, awesome and psychic. _

_Take care of yourself, I love you Finn,_

_Santana_

Finn re-read the letter twice before setting it down, Santana had never asked him to do a favor like this before. Santana really didn't ask for favors period but especially on someone else's behalf. She was usually very self-reliant and expected the same out of others. Quinn must mean a lot to her for her to ask. Santana had been right when she wrote that he would help, he did like getting letters and he was always up for making a new friend so he knew that he would help this Quinn girl before even opening her letter. Finn picked up Quinn's letter and was impressed with the clear but elegant cursive penmanship.

_Dear Finn,_

_You don't know me, my name is Quinn Fabray, I am your sister's roommate. Santana has said that she has mentioned me before in her letters to you so I hope that I am not a complete and utter stranger to you. She told me that she would tell you about my dilemma in her letter, I want to tell you that you don't have to help me out, I would understand completely if you have much better things to do. I know that you are a marine and I am sure that writing letters to a girl that you don't know doesn't rank very high in the list of your priorities. So feel free to say no, but in the off chance that you agree this is how it would work. I will write you on a topic and you would respond, like favorite childhood memory for example. Each letter would have a new topic and the answer from the last letter. I will have to show the letters to my professor but only to make sure that they met the criteria, they won't be shared with the class._

_I should tell you a little about me so here it goes; I am 18 years old but I will be 19 at the end of May. I am an only child. I grew up in a small town in Ohio called Lima. I went to an all-girls school. Santana says that I grew up too sheltered and I suppose she is right. Yale had been my dream school for as long as could remember. I want to be a writer or an editor, something to do with books. I love to read and have written at least a thousand short stories (I have been writing them since I knew how to write) I haven't really shown them to anyone. I have recently started to expand my musical tastes, Santana has been influencing me. I love 80's music like The Cure, Depeche Mode and New Order but I also really like newer alternative rock like Jimmy Eat World, Say Anything and Franz Ferdinand. Tegan and Sara are also great. Santana told me that you play quite a few instruments; I took piano lessons for ten years. So we have that in common._

_If you do decided to write me back here is the first topic question, who is your best friend and why? I didn't have a best friend growing up but I consider Santana my best friend. She accepts me with no hesitation. She is patient with me and makes me laugh even if it means laughing at myself. She has let me into her world, taken me to meet your parents and her other friends. I don't feel like am alone anymore. _

_I hope that you will write back._

_Hopefully your new friend and pen pal,_

_Quinn_

_P.S. Take care of yourself and be safe._

Finn couldn't help but smile as he read her letter, Santana was right she sounded like a great girl. They liked a lot of the same music and she sounded interesting. The whole fact that she needed to keep secrets from her parents made him wonder why. Maybe he would ask her someday when they knew each other better. He looked at his watch, it was still early, so he figured that he might as well write her now. He grabbed a blank piece of paper from a shared desk at the end of the barracks and went to his bunk to think about what he wanted to write. He tapped the pencil against his chin while he thought.

_Hi Quinn,_

_So I guess that by now you have figured out that I decided to write you back. Santana has mentioned you in all of her recent letters, she had a lot of nice things to say about you and coming from Santana that is something. I would love to help you out, I really like getting letters and it is nice to make a new friend. One maybe kind of problem is that I could be shipped out at any time so my letters might take a little while to get to you or yours to me. I hope this won't be an issue._

_Since you were kind enough to tell me a little about yourself I should do the same. My name is Finnegan Christopher Hudson, Finn for short. No one calls me Finnegan except my mom but only when she is seriously pissed off at me like when I accidently set the living room rug on fire. I guessing Santana has filled you in on me being adopted so I am going to skip over that. I am 18 and my birthday in in July. I love music, I have all of the bands that you listed. I do play quite a few instruments; I always enjoyed making noise, it's cool that you play piano too. If you ever want to play we have a piano in the den, I am sure my parents would let you use it anytime you want. Let's see my favorite classes in school were history and English. I love reading but I kind of sucked as a writer but that is awesome that you write. Maybe when you get to know me more you could let me read one of your stories, no pressure though. _

_What else can I say? I play, well played a lot of sports, I don't have a lot of opportunities to play here but in school I played football, basketball, baseball, track and field, hockey and lacrosse. I know it sounds like a lot and it was but I guess I really like the feeling of pushing myself. I liked the challenge and being part of a team. I don't want you to think that I was just a stupid jock; I did well in school too. My parents only let me play if I kept my grades up. Besides Santana and I were always in competition with grades, she did better in the sciences but I kicked her ass in history and anything that had to do geography or english. _

_So to answer your topic question: who is my best friend? Well usually I would answer that Santana and Kurt are my best friends but you already know about Santana so I will tell you about Kurt. I know that you met him recently. I bet you are wondering how I became best friends with him, we are very different but it comes down to the simple fact that he has always had my back. Let me explain, when Santana and I were in the second grade we moved to the house that we live in now and we had to change schools. You wouldn't know it from looking at me now but back then I was really small, like almost midget small. I was getting beat up by some bigger kids when Kurt came out of nowhere and demanded that they stop. He was out numbered and I was going to be no help since I was trying to stop my nose from bleeding. He walked up to the biggest kid, who was a few inches taller than him and whacked him over the head with his designer backpack. He swung it around like a ninja and taunted the other bullies to mess with him. They all ran away scared of him. He helped me up and gave me a clean handkerchief that he had in his pocket to stop my nose from bleeding. He told me that he hated bullies and that if I wanted we could be friends and look out for each other. I will never forget that he went up against four much bigger kids for me. So yeah I may not be able to identify any fashion designers or be able to quote all of Judy Garland's movies and Kurt probably couldn't tell you who played the super bowl last year but it doesn't matter he is and will always be my best friend._

_I hope that answer works for you. I look forward to your next letter and topic. _

_Your new pen pal,_

_Finn_

_P.S. I always try to be safe._

Finn found an envelope in his footlocker and put his letter to Quinn in it and wrote in his clear print, 'For Quinn'. He got another blank piece of paper so that he could write back to Santana.

_Hey Psychic San,_

_So you were right I decided to help out Quinn, she sounds like a nice girl. There is a letter for you to give to her in the envelope._

_That is great that you aced your finals and got the classes that you needed. I can't imagine how hard the classes are. I am sure that you will do great in your new classes too. _

_Kurt failed to mention that he was living with a model; he just said that he moved in with a guy that he knew from his theater production class. I will have to ask him about it later. It would be nice for him to finally get a boyfriend, he deserves to find someone that will love him back not like that creep Sebastian. If he is involved with this Brody guy don't tease him too hard, I know that you mean well but sometimes you come on to strong San and push too far._

_As far as you meeting new people I just want you to be happy Santana, you are an awesome person and someday the right girl, I mean woman will see that. In the meantime don't bury yourself in schoolwork. Have some fun with Quinn, it sounds like your friendship with her is helping her come into her own maybe she can help you too. _

_Training is going well, my unit is coming together and we are working as a team. I am making some really good friends, one guy in particular, Blaine. I have mentioned him before but over the last week we got to know each other a little more. If Kurt wasn't already with the underwear guy I would introduce them. It's kind of funny if Blaine hadn't joined the marines Kurt might have met him at NYADA. _

_Crap it is getting late and I have to be up early for our morning run up the mountain so I am going to have to end the letter here._

_I love you big sister,_

_Bumble_

_P.S. You are right Bumble fits. _

Finn smiled as he finished the post script, Santana was always coming up with stupid nicknames for everyone especially him. He folded the letter and put it in an envelope with her name on it. He put both letters into a slightly larger envelope and addressed it to Santana. He would put them in the out-going mail box in the morning.

He stretched and grabbed his shower kit and clean boxers and headed to the showers, he was tired and morning would be coming way too soon, his other letters would have to wait to be read until tomorrow. He looked at the picture that Santana had sent him a few weeks ago, it was of her and few girls that he didn't know at a Halloween party and he wondered if any of them were Quinn. He smiled and shook his head, it didn't matter what she looked like, they would probably never meet.

_About a week later_

Santana's pov

Since classes had started up again Santana had been busy and was exhausted. She stopped by the student mailboxes to check for any new mail and was thrilled to see that Finn had written her. The envelope was a little thicker than usual so she knew that she had been right in that Finn would help Quinn out. She ripped the envelope open as she waited for the elevator, sure enough there were two envelopes in there one for her and one for Quinn. The elevator came and she entered while opening her letter, she read it silently and walked on auto-pilot to her room. She was happy that Finn was doing well and was making friends, she worried about him. She worried enough about him being a marine but she worried that he wouldn't have anyone to talk to, he needed someone to tell him that he was being an idiot sometimes and it sounded like this Blaine guy could be that friend.

Santana open the door to her dorm room and found Quinn on her bed reading one of her assigned books. She was wearing these cute little reading glasses that made her look like a sexy librarian. Santana quickly dismissed the thought, no lusting after Quinn. Maybe Finn was right she needed to get out more.

"Mail for you." Santana said casually, trying to hold back her excitement, she couldn't wait to hear what Finn had written to Quinn about. She dropped the letter on Quinn's lap and sat back on her own bed so she wouldn't be tempted to do a happy dance and watched the blond. Quinn set her book down after marking the page. Santana watched as Quinn's eyes got a little bigger when she open the letter and saw who it was from. Quinn read silently but Santana saw a hint of a smile form and grow as she read. She could tell from the length of time that Quinn read that she must have re-read the letter a few times before putting it down. "So?" Santana asked eagerly.

"So what?" Quinn responded calmly.

"What did he write?" Santana said with a little bit of a frustrated tone. This was no time to play games, she had been waiting for this letter to come too.

"Oh he said that he would be happy to help me out and told me a little about himself and answered the topic question." Quinn answered and Santana knew full well that Quinn was messing with her.

"I know there is more to it than that." Santana pressured.

"There is but it's private, I told Finn that I wouldn't share his letters." Quinn said raising an eyebrow as to challenge Santana to push her further.

"But I am his sister, we have no secrets."

"Well unless he tells me that it is okay with him then and only then will I tell you." Quinn said standing her ground.

"Fine, just remember that it was because of me that he is writing you at all." Santana said a little angrily. In truth she was happy that Quinn would guard Finn's privacy so strongly after just one letter. She took it as a good sign that they could become closer. She got out her own homework and glanced over to see Quinn get out a piece of paper and start to write, she had a pretty good guess who the blond was writing to.

Quinn's pov

Finn had written her back! She was so relieved, she had been worried that he would say no and then what were her options? Sure she could have tried Kurt or maybe Tina but for some reason she really wanted it to be Finn. She couldn't explain it but she wanted to learn more about him. It intrigued her that someone would willing join the military when he so many other options, she would ask him when they got to know each other a little better.

She bit her lower lip as she thought about how he wanted to read some of her stories, no one had ever read them before and no one had ever asked. Well Santana had hinted around a little but she wasn't pushing. It excited her a little bit to think that Finn wanted to get to know that part of her, not even Sam, who had been her boyfriend for over a six months, had any interest in that part of her. She laughed a little to herself about the story of how Finn and Kurt become friends; she could totally see Kurt swinging a backpack over his head.

She started to think about what she wanted to write back to him, she had her topic question but she wanted the letter to be more than just homework, he was after all doing her this big favor. She began to write:

_Finn you are my hero!_

_Thank you so much for writing me back, I was beginning to get a little worried. I am supposed to turn the first set of letters in next Wednesday. _

_I hope that you are doing well; Santana said that you are training for cold weather war stuff, I have to admit that I know nothing about it but it doesn't sound like fun. By the way I don't think that you are a dumb jock but wow you did a lot of sports. I was on the track team in high school but that was it. Thank you for the offer about using your family's piano I might take you up on it. Finnegan huh, yeah I think I would go by Finn too. I guess I shouldn't talk, my full name is Lucille Quinn Fabray, I went by Lucy until I was ten. I never felt like a Lucy and I hate the name Lucille. I think Quinn suits me better._

_My classes are going well, it's the first week back but I think that I am really going to like them. I absolutely hated taking business classes, I really couldn't stand talking about money all day. I know that Santana told you a little about why I needed someone to write to, that I couldn't write to my parents because I am keeping this a secret from them. Since you are doing me this big favor I think that I owe you the truth. I know that this is going to sound like a whiny spoiled girl reaching for excuses but well I didn't know what else to do. For as long as I can remember my parents have had a plan for me and I went along with it, I wanted to make them happy. When I got accepted to Yale they didn't want me to go, they already had a nearby college picked out so I could live at home. I had to beg and plead and when they finally agreed to let me attend. I had to make all kinds of compromises to go to here, one of them being becoming a business major. I told them how much I wanted to be an English major but it was out of the question, it didn't work with my father's plan for me. So for the first quarter I stuck with their plan and was miserable. It was Santana who finally got me to see that I needed to start thinking for myself, that this is the only life that I have and I need to start living it. I hate lying to my parents but if I tell them the truth they will pull me out of school and I honestly don't know what I would do if that happened. _

_So onto a much less depressing topic, this letter's question is: What is your favorite book?_

_This is a hard one for me because I have so many favorites, I have one for each of my moods. That sounds like I have multiple personalities doesn't it? So instead of picking a book I will tell you about a couple of them. When I am depressed I like to read the 'Hunger Games' trilogy, suddenly my life doesn't seem so bad, at least I am not having to battle other people in an arena. When I am lonely I like to read 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist' if you haven't read it it's about two people that start to fall in love over the course of a night, the point of view go back and forth between the two main characters. I like how they find each other and let their guards down when neither are looking for love. If I want to get scared anything by Stephen King, I have also started reading 'The Walking Dead' graphic novels, I love them. When I am in a happy mood I like reading mystery type books, I like Ridley Pearson, he usually has some good twists to his stories._

_I know that I have said thank you a few times already but thank you again, it really does mean a lot to me. _

_So until next time,_

_Quinn_

She put the letter in her notebook so she could make a copy of it the give her teacher and then started to pick up her book again, she had three more chapters to read tonight. She tried to focus on the words on the page but her mind kept wandering, specifically it wandered in Finn's direction. She wondered what he would think of her letter and what he would write back. She groaned a little in frustration and put the book down and turned to Santana who was looking at her. Santana smirked one of her all-knowing smirks, "You are thinking about my brother aren't you?" Santana teased.

Quinn her book back up again and blushed a little but hide it with the book, "Shut up." She said as she once again tried to read.

"Whatever." Santana said as she went back to her own homework. Quinn didn't see the big smile on Santana's face.

A/N So a little long distance fuinn. I hate to tell you all this but I probably won't be able to update again until around Christmas. The evil place that I go to ten hours a day aka work is getting really busy and I am going to be working 70 hours a week until Christmas. The good news is that I am now in charge of 12 people and I will be getting a ton of overtime but the good news for you is that I will have almost two weeks off and I hope to get a lot of writing done during it. It would mean a lot to me if you would review and let me know how I am doing.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Season's greetings! I am back with a new chapter, I had hoped to get this chapter written a while ago but work went from 10 hour days to 12 hour days and all I wanted to do was try and sleep. So thank you for your patience. Here's the legal stuff out, I don't own glee, its characters, and while I have listened to all of them I don't own any of the rights to the music that are mentioned in this chapter.

Chapter 6 Repressed British Women and Cheeseburgers

_Dorm room February 8th _

Quinn's pov

Her fingers were tapping along with the music that pulsed through her headphones, Quinn was listening to a band that Finn had recommended, 'The Violent Femmes', she had to admit that the xylophone solo on "Gone Daddy Gone" was hypnotic. She was trying to finish an essay on 'Jane Eyre' but she was having trouble focusing, she kept looking at her watch. The mail should be coming soon and if her calculations were right there should be a letter from Finn today.

Finn's letters had quickly become a highlight of her week; he had a great sense of humor and like Santana had no problem teasing her but in a really sweet way. It was weird that in only a short time she felt a connection to him, there was a trust there that she hadn't felt before. Maybe it was because she had never meet him or because it was easier to write her thoughts and feeling rather than say them out loud but she found herself telling Finn things that she had never admitted to anyone in person. Quinn hoped that the feeling was mutual. She looked at her watch again only to see that five minutes had passed since the last time she looked, groaning in frustration Quinn closed her laptop and grabbed her notebook. She flipped to the page where she had the list of letter topics, there were only three left before the end of the quarter. Soon the assignment was over. Quinn felt a small pang in her chest, she wasn't ready for it to be over, would Finn still want to write to her? With a shake of her head Quinn tried to put it out of her mind, she had other things to worry about. Finals were coming up and so was spring break. Since she hadn't gone home for Christmas would her parents expect her to travel to Ohio for her week off? If she was honest with herself she really didn't want to go back there. It didn't feel like home anymore.

Quinn rarely spoke to her parents anymore which kind of surprised her. When she first started classes her mother would call each week, granted most of the call consisted of the elder Fabray gossiping about one of their neighbors but that was usual conversation between mother and daughter. The calls got to be fewer and further apart, Quinn was now the one calling but usually getting the answering machine or voice mail. Now she got an email once a month. The emails were impersonal, they read as if her parents were sending them to potential clients and not their own daughter. Evidently her father was now on the board of directors at their country club and her mother was in the market for a new gardener. They never asked about what she was up to, she would write back with stories about her life in New Haven but never got any replies. It was a little sad that her parents had so little interest in her life but Quinn tried not to dwell on it. She had come to the realization that while her parents had plans for her life they didn't know her.

Quinn was jarred from her depressing thoughts as she heard someone, she assumed Santana, struggled to open the door. The blond hopped off of her bed and rushed to the door and opened it. The sudden opening of the door caused Santana to fall forward onto Quinn knocking them both to the ground. Santana groaned as she tried to get up, "Honey I'm home…ouch."

Quinn tried to suppress a giggle but failed, she looked at the mess around them, all of the papers and books that Santana had been holding while trying to open the door had scattered on the floor. Her roommate had managed to sit up but was still straddling Quinn's lap. "So how was your day roomie?" Santana asked as she started to gather her belongings.

Since she was trapped beneath the raven hair girl Quinn was unable to help, "Uh San, you think that you could get off of me, as comfortable as the floor is I would like to get up." Quinn stated matter-of-factly.

Santana laughed and in an exaggerated manner brought a hand to her forehead, "Oh no! Whatever have I done!" Santana slid off of Quinn and helped her sit up. Quinn reached for a bunch of papers and saw her name on an envelope in a now familiar handwriting. She grabbed the letter and abandoned Santana on the floor to read the much anticipated letter.

Her roommate snorted in mock disapproval, "I see how it is Q, you have your way with me on the floor and then leave me for my brother."

Quinn had to laugh as she tore the envelope open, "I am so sorry San."

Santana finished picking up her stuff and dropped it on her bed before joining Quinn on hers. She grabbed the letter from Quinn's hands and held it high above her head. "Have you finished your homework?" Santana said imitating her own mother spot on. "I don't think that it is very responsible of you young lady to be reading this before you complete your repressed british woman paper."

Quinn got to her knees and pushed Santana lightly back onto the bed and rescued her letter before saying, "This letter is homework and I will have you know that I fully intend to get back to my british repressed woman paper later." She laughed, "I have to be careful not to say that to my professor, she would probably make me re-read the book."

Santana rolled off the bed, "I never saw you as the violent type Q, for that I won't tell you what Finn wrote me about you." Quinn narrowed her eyes at her roommate; Finn was discussing her with Santana? "In fact he had quite a bit to say about you and now you will never know." Santana said with her what Quinn now knew was her evil smirk.

Quinn's interest was more than peaked and now she really wanted to know what he had written. Through gritted teeth she said, "I am sorry San, I shouldn't have pushed you."

Santana's pov

Santana was enjoying torturing her roommate a little too much, she knew that she should let her off the hook but this was fun and she really wasn't looking forward to studying her inorganic chemistry book. "Apology accepted. Maybe we need to work on your rage issues Q." she teased.

Quinn put on what Santana knew was her fake polite smile, "Maybe we do, now what did Finn say about me?"

Santana smiled, "Why don't you read your letter first and then I will tell you?" she could tell that Quinn had almost forgotten that she had her own letter. Quinn's eyes lit back up as she glanced over at the unopened letter beside her.

Santana knew that Quinn would be absorbed with her letter for at least the next half hour so she decided to re-read her own letter before she cracked open her assigned reading.

_Hey ya Santana,_

_Sorry my last letter was so short, we had to go on a night run, which is about as much fun as it sounds. You will never guess who got assigned to my unit this week? Artie! It is so great having him here, it like having a piece of home around. He is going to be our communications guy. _

_How are you doing? Still kicking ass in your classes? You are almost done with classes right? Any big spring break plans? Don't tell me that you are going to Florida or Mexico to get drunk and flash people. If you do I really don't want to know about it. _

_So did you ask that girl out from your study group, what's her name Sarah? You didn't did you, I know you too well, you chickened out at the last second. I still can't believe that you have been single this long, I know that you have a long list of admirers, (my spies keep me well informed). As your much bigger younger brother I demand that you go out on a date before you start spring quarter. You are a strong and beautiful girl and any girl would be lucky to have you. _

_Things are pretty good here, cold and wet but good. I am getting used to being cold and wet all the time, I worry that I may never fully dry. Don't tell anyone but I don't think I will be here much longer, I don't mom or dad to worry but the way they have amped up our training I think that we will be shipped out soon. It is a scary but kind of exciting thought, I just hope that I don't let anyone down. _

_So I have kind of a favor to ask you, ask Quinn to spend spring break with you. She would never ask you but I can tell that she doesn't want to go back to Ohio and see her parents. I am not sure what is going on with them but from everything that she has told me about them I don't think that they are that great of people. I can't really imagine parents being that uninteresting in what their kid is doing, mom writes me at least once a week, even if all she has time for is a quick hello. I guess that it is good for Quinn's sake that they are not hounding her about her classes or should a say lack of business classes. At least she has our mom and dad for a parental fix. Mom wrote me that Quinn has been attending Sunday dinners with you. I think mom wants to adopt her. She said that Quinn helped her with some research for her next book. _

_Speaking of Quinn you really need to read her short story about the girl that was raised to be an assassin. It is an awesome story and I think that you would love it, the girl sounds a little like you. Quinn is really talented._

_Well it is time for me to sign off, remember what I said, go out on a date. _

_Your damp brother,_

_Finn_

Santana shook her head, leave it to Finn to try and goad her into dating from thousands of miles away. He was right, she had totally chickened out when she had went to ask Sarah out. She liked Sarah okay and she was cute and she knew that Sarah liked her but something was keeping her from wanting anything more from her. It wasn't like she didn't want to date or find someone, it wasn't her fault that no one had caught her interest and she wasn't going to settle for someone that she thought was only 'okay'.

She already had planned on asking Quinn to spend the break with her; she didn't plan on going to any of the traditional spring break spots so Finn didn't need to invest in any brain bleach. She wanted to hang out at home, Kurt was coming back and she just wanted to relax. She thought that it was sweet that Finn worried about Quinn. He was also right when he said that the Lopez's wanted to adopt the blonde. Santana remembered when she had told Quinn that her mom was a book editor that Quinn could barely contain her enthusiasm to meet her. Never had Santana seen Marisol Lopez take to any of her friends like she had with Quinn. She was always really nice to Brittany and she adored Tina and Mercedes but her mom loved Quinn. Ever since Quinn had commented on a book that her mom was editing her mom had involved Quinn in all of the family dinners and outings. She had even friended her on facebook.

Santana frowned when she thought of Finn shipping out, she knew that it was bound to happen sooner or later but she had hoped for later. At least now he had Artie with him. She didn't want to keep this from her parents but she knew that he would want to tell them himself. She hoped that he would be the one to tell Quinn, she really didn't want to be the one to tell her. She looked over to the girl and watched her read her letter. She was smiling as she folded the letter; Finn must not have mentioned the possibility of shipping out to her. "Good letter?" Santana asked as she put hers away.

"Yeah, Finn wants me to help you get a date. He doesn't want you to become an old spinster or crazy cat lady." Quinn said teasingly. Ever since Finn gave the okay for Quinn to share his letters with her Quinn had taken this opportunity to torment her with insider knowledge.

"I will have you know that I will never be a crazy cat lady, I think I would train badgers or raccoons." Santana said holding her head high.

"Because that is so much better." Quinn said as she laughed. "Finn does have a point, maybe it is time for you to put yourself out there." She said as she collected herself.

Santana got up from her bed and walked over to the desk chair by Quinn's bed, "You are one to talk Q, you haven't exactly been a social butterfly."

Quinn turned a little red, "I promised my parents that I wouldn't date."

"You also promised that you would major in business."

"San, I already broke one promise and I don't want to break another. Besides I have met anyone that I would want to date." Quinn said quietly.

"What if you did meet the right guy or girl? Hey it could happen, don't you roll your eyes at me! You have to keep your options open Q. If you found someone that you wanted to date, would you?" Santana prodded.

"Honestly, I…I don't know."

Knowing that she wasn't going to get anymore from her Santana said, "Well when I find someone that I want to go out with I will, I just haven't yet so you can tell Finn that he can stay out of my private affairs and that he doesn't need to involve you either. When I want you to be my wingwoman I will ask."

Her roommate nodded and then got a giddy look, "Okay, so what did Finn say about me?" Quinn asked eagerly.

Santana held back a laugh; she could tell that Quinn had been dying to ask. "Well he said that Mom has been singing your praises and he believes that she wants to adopt you but we both knew that already." Quinn smiled. "And he also told me that I have to get you to let me read the story that you sent him. He said that it was awesome and that you are a great writer. Now can I just say that I am a little hurt that you gave my brother a story before me? I mean I have known you longer and for frak's sake we live together!" Santana said in mock anger.

Quinn had a smile so big that Santana was worried that it would hurt the blonde's face, "If it makes you feel any better I based the main character off of you." Quinn conceded . She reached under her bed and pulled out a couple of notebooks and handed one to Santana. "I wasn't sure if you would really want to read one."

"Of course I want to. I hear that I am a badass assassin, wanky." Santana said as she held the notebook. She smiled at Quinn, "I can't wait to read it, but right now I need to get through my chemistry, I have put it off for as long as I can." She got up and went back to her bed. Santana picked up her book as she watched Quinn open her letter from Finn again.

Quinn's pov

It amazed Quinn how just a few words from a boy, well man, could so completely improve her day, hell her entire week. Finn had written her that he loved her story but the fact that he told Santana that he had made it more real. She looked at her laptop she really should finish her 'Jane Eyre' paper but her letter from Finn was beckoning her. It was no contest; the repressed british lady could wait.

_Greetings from a snowdrift,_

_Before you scold me for dereliction of duty I am writing to you during chow time. I can't tell you how much I would love a cheeseburger from that dive drive-thru on 6__th__ street right now. My reconstituted spaghetti is disgusting. Enough about food how are you doing? Studying hard I bet, finals are in a few weeks, right? Don't stress I am sure that both you and San will do great. Keep an eye on Santana for me if she starts snapping a rubber band on her wrist get her away from the books for a while, trust me on this. You don't want to see study crazy snix come out. It isn't pretty. _

_I am guessing that Santana wussed out on asking that girl out from her study group, I know that she keeps telling me that she is okay and is over Britt but what do you think? I haven't seen her and you see her every day, is she alright? I just want her to be happy, I worry that she will close herself off out fear of being rejected. I would hate for her to become a crazy cat lady or more likely in her case crazy wolverine lady. Maybe you could help get her to go out, drag her to a party or something. Alright I think that I have hit my quota on Santana talk. _

_So your topic question was hard, it made me think about it for a while, I wasn't sure how to answer. When you wrote that you had to find a topic that made you uncomfortable I would have never guessed that you would ask me about my sexual history. But since you were so open about yours I suppose I can tell you about mine. I have to admit that when I read your letter I kind of shot milk through my nose. _

Quinn but his letter down and laughed to herself a little at the thought of Finn snorting his milk. As awkward as it was for Finn to read her letter it was ten times harder for her to write it. She picked the letter back up to continue.

_When you wrote about how you were raised to think of sex as something dirty and secretive it made me a little mad at your parents. I get them wanting you to wait but to tell you that you would go to hell if you let a boy touch before your wedding night is just plain wrong. I am glad that you have let go of that particular belief. I understand you wanting to wait until you find someone that you love. There is nothing wrong with wanting to give that part of you to someone that will protect it. As far as my history well it is a very short story. Drumroll please…I am building suspense here if you didn't know…I am still a virgin too. It is not like I didn't have opportunities but every time I got close I would hear my dad's voice in my head, not in a creepy way but it would make me think and I would stop it. I guess I should explain, when I was fourteen my dad and I had 'the talk' you know the one. He told me about using protection and all that but then he told me that before I sleep with someone I needed to take a moment and think is this someone that I want to be connected to for the rest of my life? Because each and every time you sleep with someone you risk the chance of pregnancy. That sex should be more than a few minutes of sweaty fun, it should be about intimacy. He told me that when he was seventeen he was the star running back for his football team, he was popular and he hooked up with one of the cheerleaders after a game. It was a one-time thing and he didn't really think about it again until she came up to him a few weeks later. She told him that she was late and that she thought she was pregnant. My dad didn't know what to think or do; he was a senior with plans of going to college having a kid was not in those plans. She told him that if she was pregnant she was keeping the baby. He barely knew the girl, he wanted to do the right thing and support her but it scared him. They made plans to visit the doctor to find out for sure. All week he was sick with worry, he wasn't ready to be a dad and while this girl was nice and all he couldn't imagine spending his life with her, even if they didn't get married he would always be tied to her. He said he had never been as relieved as when the doctor told them that it was a false positive. The scare made my dad stop and think about his actions that lead up to that point, he had been kind of a player, he hadn't really cared about a single one of the girls that he had been with and that wasn't right. He said the next time that he was with someone was mom after they had dated for a few months after meeting their sophomore year of college he knew that he loved her. _

_Santana probably told you that I lived like a monk in high school and that is mostly true, she and Kurt also probably told you about Rachel. Let me just say that I never had any romantic feelings for Rachel she scared the crap out of me. I still have nightmares about her. If there was anyone that I might have wanted more with it was a girl my junior year named Marley, she was new to the area and had joined glee. I offered to show her around, we had a lot in common, she had two older brothers so she knew a lot about sports and video games. She had a nice voice and I thought that it was great to get paired up with someone other than Rachel. I got up the nerve to ask Marley out right before glee sectionals. Other than group outings with Santana, Brittany, Tina, Mike and our friend Puck I had never really gone out so I was pretty pumped. We made plans to meet at a restaurant, I waited and waited and she never showed. I was crushed. I tried calling her but she wouldn't answer, I went to her house but no one would open the door. When I went to school Monday I found out that she had transferred to a different school. No one knew why. I went back to her house after school and saw her dad packing up a U-Haul truck. I asked what was going on and I thought he was going to hit me. I had never seen someone so mad. He told me that I was scum, how could I lure his little girl to a crack house? I was so confused that I didn't know what to say. He told me that he wanted to have me arrested but the police told him that I hadn't done anything illegal. I managed to ask why and he shoved me up against the garage, he said that it was my note with flowers telling her to meet me there instead of the restaurant that lead her to getting hurt. I was stunned, Marley had gotten hurt! I didn't know about anything he was talking about, I hadn't left her a note or flowers. He wouldn't let me explain and I never got to see Marley, they moved away. _

_Santana figured out that it was Rachel that had sent the flowers, she had been jealous and was mad that she didn't have the duet with me. But by the time we found out it was too late. After that I really didn't want to put any other girl at risk. Also by that time I was so busy with everything else I really didn't have time for dating. So I guess that is the long answer to your question, the short answer is that I have not had sex, I haven't ever had a girlfriend and that I am waiting for the person that I wouldn't mind being connected to for the rest of my life._

_On a much lighter note, I loved the story that you sent me! It was awesome, it had everything, a killer for hire that has a conscience, action, romance and a brilliant ending. You should let Santana and my mom read it. I can't wait for you to send me another one. I know that someday I will get to tell people that I knew you before you were famous. _

_Crap I am out of paper and it is almost time for my turn on patrol. _

_Until next time,_

_Finn_

Quinn couldn't help but smile as she folded the letter, Finn really believed in her. It was a fantastic feeling. She looked at the clock she had a little time before dinner and yeah the repressed british woman wasn't going anywhere. She pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and started to write:

_Hi Finn,_

_You wouldn't believe how thrilled I am that you liked my story, I have never let anyone one read one before. I guess you could say that I was afraid of what people would say about them. You really think that I should show it to your mom? _

_I know that you worry about Santana but I do think that she is fine. She will date when she finds someone that is worthy of her awesomeness (her words not mine). I will try and get her to go out but I have to say that I don't really like to go out much either. _

_I am a little nervous about finals coming up I have a lot of papers to write but I should be okay. Thanks for the heads up on Santana and study snix, I will try and keep an eye on her. _

_I wanted to thank you for your honesty about the topic question, I don't know what I was thinking when I asked you. At the time that was the most uncomfortable thing I could think of. Thanks for not making me feel like a freak. I think that you make perfect sense, even without the risk of pregnancy sex ties you to the other person. I would want that person to be someone special. I am so sorry about Marley that must have been awful. Rachel sounds like a horrible little person, no wonder Santana calls her demon spawn. Kurt told me over Christmas that Rachel had taken to following him and Brody to school and staking out their apartment. Very creepy._

_So this week's topic question is by comparison very light compared to last week's. If you could wake up tomorrow and be in someone else's body for one day who would it be? It has to be someone that is alive today. I was tempted to say you, I am curious about what you do and would love to have a better idea of what makes you tick but then I decided to pick Angelina Jolie. I know that you are probably laughing at me right now but let me explain. It is not because of her being with Brad Pitt if that is what you are thinking or even because she is famous. Even though she is not a politician she pushes for change, she is involved in all sorts of charities and makes a difference. She finds time to be a mom, an actress, a writer, a producer an activist and someone's partner. I would love to see how someone could do all of things._

_I have been checking out the weather reports for where you are and they look miserable, I hope that you are staying as warm and dry as you can. I am sorry that I can't send you a cheeseburger, I would if I could but chances are that Santana would eat it before I could send it and if I ordered it with bacon then well it probably wouldn't survive the trip home, I would eat it. Sorry. How about this I will eat one and think of you? _

_Speaking of food it is dinner time here so I had better go, Santana looks hungry and I don't want to be the reason that she misses out on the tater tots._

_Thinking of you while eating fries,_

_Quinn_

"Are you done yet? I want my tots!" Santana said in a whiny tone.

"You are not four years old San, don't act like it. You could go without me you know." Quinn chastised as she put the letter in her notebook and grabbed her coat.

"I know that but the servers like you better, I won't get as many tots if you aren't there." Santana explained as she nudged Quinn out the door.

"I was thinking about walking to the burger joint on 6th instead of the dining hall tonight." Quinn said as she locked their door.

Santana cocked her head to the side and arched an eyebrow, "Oh really, I suppose I could go for fries instead of tots. Lead the way Q! I gots to get my grub on."

Quinn laughed as Santana dragged her to the elevator.

_The next week in the barracks_

Finn's pov

He had water dripping from his hair, his clothes were soaked and his boots made a squishing sound. Finn was beyond tired, his body ached and all he wanted was to get in a hot shower and go to bed. His unit had been out on a training exercise for the last five days, the whole time it had been a rain/snow mix. He almost missed the stack of mail on his bunk.Right at the top he recognized the yale return address. He wanted to read the letters now but knew that they would still be there after his shower. He grabbed some clean dry clothes and his shower kit and headed to the bathroom.

Finn quickly stripped his wet clothes off, well as fast as the plastered to his body clothes would come off. He stepped into the hot stream of water and relished the heat. He knew that he only had a few minutes to enjoy it so he soaped up and washed his hair before his time was up. In those precious minutes he wondered what Quinn wrote him this time. Would she tease him about still having his v-card? She didn't seem the type but you never knew. He knew that the quarter was almost over and that meant that her assignment would be ending soon, how many letters would be left after this one? Would she want to continue to write him? She was a busy college student surely she would have better things to do then write him. It was a sad thought; he really liked hearing from her. He found himself sharing parts of himself with her that he was afraid of telling others. He really didn't want to lose that. He stepped out of the shower and dried off. He pulled on his clean clothes and hung up his wet ones over the heat vent by his bunk. Hopefully they would dry soon. Finn lay down on his bunk and got comfortable. He decided to read Santana's letter first, he always saved Quinn's letter for last.

_My dearest damp Finnocence,_

_I hope that by the time this letter reaches you that you have dried out some. It is cold here too; we have about six inches of snow on the ground. I guess I shouldn't complain so much about getting wet slush down my boots when you have to sleep in it._

_That is so great that Artie got transferred to your unit! Be sure to say hi from me. I still can't imagine him as a marine. I always thought that he would go to film school. Speaking of seeing high school friends guess who I saw walking out of the movie theater over the weekend? Puck! That is right Noah Puckerman, he tried to pretend that he didn't see me. What happened between the two of you? When I cornered him he was very un-Puck like, he was polite. He didn't make one inappropriate comment. He said that he was late for something and took off quickly. It was weird._

_Classes are almost over and yes I am kicking ass, finals will suck but I should be fine. I already planned on asking Quinn to spend the break with me and don't worry we won't be doing anything that would get us on 'Girls Gone Wild'. I think that we will be hanging out with Kurt. _

_I think that it is nice that you worry about Quinn, I don't think that she has much of a support system but us. Everything that she has told me about her parents makes me mad. I don't understand how any parents would want to hold their kid back from their dreams and then forget all about them when they are out of sight. _

_Thanks to your good review of her story Q finally let me read one of her stories and you were right, it was awesome. She still isn't ready to share it with mom yet but I think that you boosted her confidence ten-fold._

_So you are conspiring with Q now on getting me a date? Brother dear I think that you are spending too much time thinking about my sex life. I told Q and I will tell you, I am fine and I don't want or need your help or worry. If I go out on a date it will because I want to and not because you tell me to. You can't see it but I am sticking my tongue out at you right now. End of discussion._

_Alas I need to get back to my studying, for some reason the knowledge doesn't just jump into my head when I need it._

_Warm up little bro,_

_Santana_

Finn chuckled as he finished Santana's letter. He could totally see her sticking her tongue out at him, he should know better than to try and get her to do anything unless it was her idea. He was happy that she was going to invite Quinn to stay with her; he thought that any time spent in Ohio would be toxic to the girl. It surprised him that Santana had run into Puck, he thought Puck had moved to Los Angeles. He wished that he knew what had happened between him and Puck, one day they were friends and the next Puck wanted nothing to do with him. He had tried to talk to the mohawked boy but all he ever got was silence. It sucked, once upon a time they had been good friends. He picked up Quinn's letter and read it. It was good to know that she didn't think that he was weird because he was still a virgin and he thought that it was cute that she would tease him about the cheeseburger. He thought it was a good topic question; he would have to think about it. Her answer was interesting, he wouldn't have expected it.

He wanted to write her back right then but it was almost lights out and he was exhausted, it would have to wait until the next day. Goodnight San, goodnight Quinn were his last thoughts before sleep overtook him.

A/N I had planned on this being a longer chapter but life interfered and I wanted to give you guys something before the new year. I am sorry to say that I will be taking a short break from writing, on Christmas eve, coincidently while I was working on this chapter I learned that one of my cousins killed himself, he left behind a wife and two young kids. Needless to say I am a mess and I don't really feel like writing right now. I am trying to be there for my family, as much as I love writing I need to put it on the back burner. I won't be forgetting about the story and as soon as I feel up to it I will write the next chapter. I would still appreciate any reviews that you may have for me. Here's to hoping that the new year is better.


	7. Chapter 7 Car Confessions

A/N Happy New Year! This probably isn't my best chapter but I couldn't sleep last night and decided to try and write. I don't own glee or its characters. All mistakes are mine.

Chapter 7 Car Confessions

_Friday evening, the weekend before Finals Week dun dun dun_

Santana's pov

Santana groaned loudly as she flipped to the next page of her anatomy study guide. She knew the material but she didn't want to slack off just yet, it wasn't enough to just know it she wanted to be able to recite it from memory. She glanced at the empty bed across the room, Quinn's was on an overnight field trip to Walden Pond, two whole days without any outside communication . Santana shuddered at the thought; she loved her cell phone a little too much to abandon it. It had only been a few hours since the blonde had left but Santana missed her, the room was too quiet. It was the quiet that was making it hard to concentrate, Santana was too used to hearing Quinn hum along to her ipod or tap out a beat while doing her own work. She was about to turn on her radio when her phone rang, she didn't recognize the number.

"Hello?" she asked hearing a lot of background noise.

"San it's Finn." Came a very familiar and missed voice.

"Seriously? Finnonence is it really you?" Santana couldn't help but smile into the phone.

"No I am a robot from the future that has mimicked the voice of your brother. Yes it is me." Finn said teasingly.

"You never call, what is going on? Not that I am not thrilled to hear your voice." She said a little worried.

"I know that you are probably studying but do you think that you could be at Bradley airport in two hours?" Finn asked.

All of a sudden the background noise made sense, Finn was at an airport.

"Oh my god! Are you coming home?! Yes I can be there! What gate? How long are you staying? Do mom and dad know?" Santana rambled rapid fire as her books dropped on the floor from her jumping up and down on her bed.

"Whoa one question at a time, yes, 42A, two days and no." Finn said in a voice that she knew he was smirking.

Santana may or may not have let out a very girly squeal, "I can't believe that you are coming home, mom and dad are going to be so happy to see you."

"Are they the only ones?"

"Shut up you know that I missed you. Where are you right now?"

"Chicago. I got a weekend pass." He answered. "Oh they are boarding my flight, I got to go. I will see you soon San. Drive carefully. Oh I am also bringing a surprise. Love ya." He said before hanging up, Santana didn't even have a chance to respond. She continued to bounce on her bed, her brother was coming home, and sure it was only two days but after not seeing him for almost eight months she would take it. She started making plans in her head of the things that they could cram into their time together, of course a trip to Breadstix was near the top, they would also have to get Kurt to make the trip up. She should call him now and Quinn…

"Fuck!" Santana cursed. Of course the one weekend that Quinn wasn't here was the weekend that Finn would decide to visit. Dammit she couldn't even call Quinn to let her know. With a sigh of frustration she scrolled through her contact until she found Kurt's number.

"Hello Satan, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Kurt asked his signature air of superiority.

"Get your pale little ass on the next train up here!" Santana said while trying to keep her cool.

"May I ask why?"

"Isn't it enough that I tell you to? You need a reason too?"

"A reason would be nice."

"Fine, your best friend is flying in and should be here in a little less than two hours." Santana said excitedly.

"Finn! Finn is coming home! Great shades of Barbra! How long is he staying?!" Kurt exclaimed and Santana knew that he was jumping up and down.

"He is only going to be here for two days so like I said get your pale ass up here." Santana said as she grabbed her bag, it would take about an hour to drive to the airport and she wanted to make a stop at Finn's favorite burger place on the way. Someone had told her that he had been dreaming of cheeseburgers.

"I am packing my bag as we speak; I will be on the next train that I can make. Boy it is a good thing that I don't have any exams Monday." Kurt said elatedly.

"I know right, my first exam is Tuesday. Okay text me what train you are on and we will pick you up."

"Sounds like a plan. Quinn must be so excited to finally meet her pen pal."

"Here's the sucky part, Quinn isn't here this weekend she is on that stupid Walden 'No modern conveniences' pond field trip. She doesn't know." Santana said as she locked the door.

"Their timing is terrible isn't it?"

"I know."

"Well if it is meant to be for them then it will happen."

"But I want them to happen now." Santana whined.

"You sound like a spoiled two year old San, it isn't becoming."

"I don't care, well Porcelain I have to go. I will see you soon."

"Go get our little marine." Kurt said happily.

"Will do, bye.

"Bye."

Santana hung up and started her car. She looked up Finn's flight info on her phone and his flight was on time, in a little over an hour her brother would be home.

_Airport_

Santana paced by the baggage claim for Finn's gate, his flight was in and he should be coming around the corner any minute. She wanted to remain calm and not freak out from the excitement that she felt but it was a losing battle. She heard him before she saw him.

"It was nice talking to you sir, I hope that you have a nice visit with your grandkids." Finn said as he pushed an older man in a wheelchair to his waiting family. He turned to face Santana a burst into a huge smile. "San!"

Screw calm Santana thought as she ran to him. He picked her up and swung her around. "You wouldn't believe how much I have missed you sis."

"I missed you too but you need to put me down before I puke all over your nice clean uniform." Santana said. Finn put her down and she looked him over. He had always been tall and had been in shape but wow the marines had really toned him up and trimmed him down. His hair was short, and he seemed taller. "Did you get taller?" she asked as Finn grabbed his duffle bag.

"I didn't think that you would notice, yeah I am now 6 foot 3." He said giving her his half grin.

"Jeez Finn stop growing, we don't need a freaking giant in the family." Santana teased.

"I will make an effort to stop." He said as he looked around. "Ah here is my surprise." Santana looked in the same direction as him and saw a handsome young man in the same marine uniform as her brother.

"Sorry, the line in the bathrooms was really long and well sorry." The dark haired boy said as he searched the luggage conveyer belt.

"Oh I guess I should make introductions, Santana this is Blaine, Blaine Anderson. Blaine this is my sister Santana." Finn said as Blaine grabbed his duffle.

Blaine held out his hand for her to shake, instead Santana hugged him. She pulled back and saw him smile, "Nice family you have Hudson."

"I like them." Finn said as Santana led the way to the car.

"So you were the one keeping my brother sane out there, thanks." She said as they reached the car.

Blaine smiled, "I think it was the other way around but your welcome."

"I see the beast is still running, she isn't giving you any problems is she?" Finn asked as he set his and Blaine's bags in the back.

"Runs like a champ, due for an oil change but otherwise all is good."

"Good, I will take care of that before I leave." He paused, "I kind of thought that Quinn would come with you. Is she real busy with studying?" Santana thought that she heard some disappointment in his voice.

"Unfortunately she is gone this weekend for a school thing she won't get back until late Sunday night." Santana said as she buckled her seatbelt. "It sucks I know that she would have wanted to meet you, as a consolation prize I give you the best cheeseburger in all of the northeast." She said as she gave him the food. "I would have gotten you one too if I had known, sorry Blaine." She apologized.

Blaine shrugged, "It is okay. I am not really hungry right now. But I could use a nap. I am not going to offend anyone if I sleep during the drive?" Santana shook her head and Blaine closed his eyes. She turned to Finn in the passenger seat, Finn looked like he was going to cry.

"You have no idea of how much I have dreamed about eating one of these. San you are my hero." He took a big bite and moaned as he savored the burger. Finn finished the burger in record time, "That is too bad about Quinn, I forgot that this was her field trip weekend; I was really looking forward to being able to put a face to the letters."

"You haven't seen what she looks like?" Santana said very surprised.

"Nope, she said that she wanted me to get to know her without appearance being an issue, she had some problems with that in her past I guess."

Santana was fishing out her phone from her pocket, "Do you want to see a picture?"

Finn looked tempted but shook his head, "I want to respect her wishes, if she wants me to know what she looks like she will send me one."

"Alright, just so you know, she is smoking hot. When I met her I was sorely disappointed to find out the she didn't play for the lady land team, in fact I was tempted to try and get her to switch teams." Santana said casually.

Her brother choked a little on his soda and grabbed the dash to steady himself. "Santana! That is no way to talk about your friend."

"I am just joking, well not really, she is gorgeous and I am pretty sure that 90% of the campus would kill to get her to go out with them and yes I am including the female students." Santana said as she pulled onto the freeway.

She could see Finn blushing as he tried to change the topic, "This is great. We can go to Breadstix and try and break the breadstick eating record and maybe we can go skating."

Santana smiled at her brother's enthusiasm, "That's the plan. I haven't told mom or dad yet, I thought you would want to surprise them."

Finn nodded as he stared out the window at the scenery and they slipped into a comfortable silence.

Finn's pov

It was so good to be back, to be with Santana and to be going home. He knew that he had missed all of this but now that he was here he realized just how much. As he took in the familiar sights he heard Santana sigh.

"Am I not entertaining you enough?" he teased.

"Finn don't take this the wrong way because you wouldn't believe how happy I am to see you but I am worried that I am not going to like the reason for this impromptu visit. Tell me that I am wrong." She said as she glanced over to him before retuning her eyes to the road.

"San…" he didn't know how to continue.

"You are going somewhere aren't you?"

Finn didn't answer and Santana seemed to take his silence as conformation. "Somewhere dangerous?"

"Well they don't send us to Disneyland." He joked. Santana sent him a death glare and pulled off to the side of the road.

Finn saw her take a deep breath before turning to him and hitting him in the shoulder, "Don't you dare joke about this." Her voice shook and he could see tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Hey! That hurt San. I know that I shouldn't joke but I don't know how to talk about this. I was kinda hoping to go the whole weekend without it coming up." He said as he rubbed his arm.

Santana gripped the steering wheel and Finn could see her knuckles go white, he knew from experience that she was about to lose it. But then she surprised him and relaxed her grip a little. "We are not stupid, **I am not stupid**." She emphasized.

Finn placed his hand over hers on the steering wheel. "I know that, I just wanted a few days off from not thinking about it. This last week at the base has been so intense, you wouldn't believe how stressed everyone is there. Blaine and I had to get out of there." Finn said as he looked at his friend in the backseat, he said quietly, "I had to bring him, he doesn't have any family and I thought if he didn't have one to go to then he could borrow mine."

Santana nodded and Finn could tell that she was still upset. "San I am sorry I hope this doesn't ruin our weekend."

Santana wiped away a stray tear that had managed to escape, "I won't let it. I suppose you can't tell me where you are going?"

"I am sorry no."

His sister took a deep breath and checked the car mirrors before pulling back onto the road. "Okay. No more talk of this…at least for now. So Blaine seems really nice."

Finn smiled, relieved that the subject had been changed. "Yeah, he is great, it's too bad that Kurt is with the underwear model."

Santana smirked her 'I know something you don't know' smirk, "Kurt isn't with the model, turns out that they are just roommates. As another consolation prize a certain well-dressed fashionisto is on his way home to see you."

Finn slapped the dash and glanced back at his sleeping friend and said quietly, "Kurt is coming home!"

"Yes your brother from another mother should be on a train as we speak." Santana said as they passed the New Haven 35 miles sign. "Too bad Artie didn't come with you."

"He didn't get a pass."

Finn tapped his fingers on the dashboard and Santana rolled her eyes, "Out with it Finn, something is on your mind."

"I was just thinking that your classes are over next week and that means that Quinn's…"

"Quinn's classes will be over too." Santana finished for him.

"Yeah I have her last letter for her assignment with me; I thought I would deliver it in person."

Santana put on her all-knowing smug smile, "Finn are you worried that she won't want to write to you anymore?"

Finn hated it that Santana could read him so well, "I wouldn't say worried but I got used to hearing from her."

"Admit it Finnegan you like her and you would miss her letters. And to answer your question I think that she will keep writing to you and won't stop unless you tell her to."

"Yeah?" he asked as he tried to hold back he hope in his voice but failed miserably.

"Yeah. By the way she likes you too."

"I never said that I liked her. Well I like her as a friend, not like her like her if that is what you are implying."

"Finn I swear if you weren't my brother I would smack you. In fact I will when we get home." Santana said through gritted teeth.

"Why? Because I don't like your friend."

"No because you do and are to chicken shit to do anything about it. Admit it Finn anytime someone gets close you run. And you give me crap about dating, you never even tried." Santana said narrowing her eyes.

Finn didn't know what to say, his sister had that effect on him, "You don't know what you are talking about San."

"So explain it to me."

Finn glanced back at Blaine, who was lightly snoring, and back to Santana, "In high school the reason that I never dated was because of you." Seeing the confused and slightly disgusted look on Santana's face he clarified, "Eww not like that. When we started high school I saw how frustrated you were, you wanted to be like everyone else, be able to walk up to a girl you liked and ask her out. Kiss someone in the hall, go to a dance with a date but you weren't ready. I didn't want to add to that frustration, I didn't want you to feel left out so I didn't date. I filled my time with other things and it was fine. When you and Brittany got together well not publically we did group things and that was cool. By then I had my mini stalker and dating was a bad idea…" Finn trailed off.

Santana stayed quiet and continued to drive. It wasn't until they reached their exit that she spoke, "You didn't have to do that for me Finn. I didn't ask you to."

"You didn't have to."

"What I am trying to say is that I could have handled you dating, just because I had hang ups shouldn't have held you back."

"I didn't see it that way. San you may be the older sibling but I am always going to look out for you." Finn said as he stared out the window.

"I appreciate that Finn but you don't need to take care of me that way anymore."

"I know that."

"Good now that that is settled I don't see any reason why you can't admit that you like Quinn." Santana said as she drove down their street. She parked in front of their childhood home, Finn could see that their parents' cars were not there yet. "I am waiting for an answer." Santana said impatiently.

"Okay I like Quinn, she is smart, sweet, funny and according to you gorgeous but…"

"No buts I don't like buts." Santana said and groaned as Finn smirked.

"I have it on good authority that you do."

"Never mind that, why is there a but?" Santana asked as she turned off the car.

"I can't start something with her when I won't be here. It would be completely unfair to her. She should be out having fun with guys that she can talk about her classes with."

"But she has that with you."

"It is not the same Santana and you know it. She deserves to have someone that can be with her not a few thousand miles away."

"You should let her decide what she wants." Santana urged.

"Trust me it is better this way, please don't push this. And don't say anything to Quinn about this conversation." Finn pleaded.

"Fine but I don't like it. You better wake up Blaine. Kurt should be texting me soon." Santana said as she got out of the car.

"Thanks San."

"You shouldn't thank me, I think that you are wrong and that you are missing out but I can't force you." she said as she unlocked the door to the house and went inside.

Finn merely nodded "It wasn't a mistake was it?" he thought and gently shook Blaine awake, "Hey man we are here."

Blaine blinked away some sleep from his eyes and got out of the car. "Nice home."

Finn looked at his home; he felt a peace that he hadn't felt in months and smiled, "Yes it is."

A/N I wanted to say thanks to all of the people that reviewed and to all the new followers and people that favorited the story. I start back up at work tomorrow so who knows when I will get a chance to sit back down at my laptop. I am still not really in the writing mood but I am trying. Shoot me a review and maybe if I get enough it will spur me on to write the next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8 Hellos and Goodbyes

A/N I don't own glee or its characters. I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 8 Hellos and Goodbyes

_Late Saturday night Lopez house_

Finn's pov

He couldn't sleep, his bed was comfortable but his mind wouldn't shut off. Finn's mind seemed to have one focus that night and it wasn't on sleeping it was on Quinn. He hadn't been entirely truthful to Santana the day before, he really liked Quinn, he found himself thinking about her all the time. He would hear a funny story and want to write to her about it or a song would come on that she had told him about. Everything seemed to trigger a thought of Quinn. He got out of bed and went downstairs; maybe some food would help him sleep. He was surprised to see that his dad, Rick, had the same idea.

"Can't sleep son?" his dad asked as he poured a bowl of cereal. He held up the box as to offer to pour him a bowl too.

Finn nodded and happily accepted the bowl. "Why are you up dad?"

His dad sat down and ran a hand through his dark hair, Finn could see hints of silver peeking out, "I was thinking about you Finn. This isn't just a spur of the moment visit is it?" he asked in a concerned voice.

Looking down at his froot loops Finn gathered his courage before speaking, "No it isn't. I am being deployed…soon."

His father nodded and took a spoonful of cereal. They both ate in silence for a few minutes. "It is so different than training son." He finally said.

"I know that dad."

"You think that you do but there is no training in the world that can prepare you for what is really out there. I don't think that I would have made it if it wasn't for your father, Chris saved my ass more times than I can count." Rick looked straight into Finn's eyes, Santana may have gotten her beauty from Marisol but she definitely got her dad's eyes.

Finn wanted to ease his father's mind but he knew that it wasn't possible; he had seen firsthand the horrors of war. "I know that my training will only take me so far dad and then it is going to be up to me. But I am not going out there alone I have a great unit and we have each other's backs."

His dad gave a slight nod, "Blaine is a good kid. Don't worry about telling your mother I will find a way to tell her later. I take it that Santana knows already?" Finn nodded. His dad finished his snack and picked up his bowl and rinsed it out in the sink. "So what is keeping you up Finn?"

Finn played with his spoon for a moment, "I don't know my mind won't shut down."

"Thinking about the deployment?"

"No…not really, I should be but it's someone I mean something else."

Rick smiled, "Ah someone else, a girl perhaps?"

"You are as bad as San you know that Dad?"

"Where do you think she gets it from? What is the problem maybe I can help?" His father smirked. "It's Quinn isn't it?"

"How could you possibly know that?" Finn asked disbelievingly.

His dad laughed and pulled up a chair next to Finn's, "It was not hard son, you have hung on every word that mentioned her since you have been here. If it helps I am pretty positive that she likes you too."

"Why would you say that?"

"She comes every week for Sunday dinner, she asks to hear about stories of you, she looks at your pictures it doesn't take a detective to piece together that she is interested in you." His father smiled and took Finn's bowl away. "Quinn is a great girl, you would be lucky to have a girl like her interested in you."

"She is great, I just don't know what to do. I was terrified of coming home because I thought that I would finally meet her."

"Why were you scared Finn?"

Finn shrugged and tried to evade his father's eyes, "Part of me wanted to meet her and realize that there was nothing there but a casual friendship that would make life easier and another part wanted to tell her how much I have come to live for her letters."

Rick shook his head, "But she isn't here."

"No she isn't and I don't know how I should feel." Finn made a fist and closed his eyes in frustration.

"Well you feel what you feel son. We cannot control that. You like the girl; you think about her in more than friendly terms and have created a bond. It is simple."

"How is it simple? It's not like I can ask her out, I am not even in the same time zone!"

"I didn't say that it was easy, there are obstacles no doubt about it but if there is one thing that I have learned is that if you want something to succeed bad enough you will find a way to make it work. Finn if you think that you could have something real with her then you need to take a chance."

"It doesn't matter what I want, I couldn't put her through all of this."

"Finn what do you mean by all of this? Your leaving? Because I can tell you right now it isn't going to matter if you get involved with her or not. That girl is going to worry her pretty little head until you back home. You are not going to spare her any by denying your feelings for her." He patted Finn's shoulder as he got up. "Try and get some sleep, it will be morning soon." He left the kitchen and Finn followed a few minutes later with his mind a little less cluttered.

_Sunday morning Lopez House_

The house was quiet and Finn knew before opening his eyes that he was the first one up. He stretched in his bed; it was amazing how well he slept after the talk with his dad. He had missed sleeping in his own bed, he didn't like to think that it would probably be the last time he slept in it for a long while. He looked around his room, it was unchanged, and everything was exactly as he left it.

Finn sat up and picked up a picture that was on his nightstand, it was of him, Santana and his cousin Alex when they were fourteen. He had just had a growth spurt that summer and he towered over the two girls. "We look so young." He thought as he put the picture back, that was the first summer that Alex had spent with them. Her mom had died a few months before and his uncle didn't know what to do with her. Other than some letters and a few phone calls Finn hadn't really known the only blood family that he had left but that didn't stop him from welcoming her into his adoptive family. Alex spent the next few summers with them and then stopped the summer before their senior year. Alex had explained that she had a job opportunity at a summer camp that she couldn't pass up but Finn had a feeling that it was more than that. Finn wondered how Alex was doing, her training was over soon too and she hadn't written him in a while.

Finn left his room quietly and made his way to the kitchen. He started the coffee maker and put water on to heat for hot chocolate and went to work pulling things out of the fridge so that he could make a family breakfast. He looked at the clock and started a mental countdown to how long he had before his flight back to base. He shook his head and started to crack open some eggs, time was short and he wanted to make the most of it. He thought of the last few days, Friday night and yesterday had been fantastic, the look on his mom's face when she got home was priceless. The entire group had gone to Breadstix and it was Blaine who broke the breadstick eating record, sure he had a stomach ache afterwards but he claimed that it was worth it. They had gone ice skating and Finn watched Kurt and Blaine skate hand in hand; he liked seeing his friends happy. He hadn't gotten a lot of one on one time with Santana yet but he would make the time before he left.

After chopping up some cheese and ham Finn mixed them into the egg mixture and put it in the oven, he may not be a gourmet chef but he could make a pretty mean frittata. As he waited on it to cook he thought back to the car conversation and last night's talk about Quinn. He had tried not to think about it but it kept creeping back into the front of his mind. He knew that he loved reading her letters, she never failed to make him think and she wasn't afraid to be honest with him even when the truth was difficult. Was it normal to think about someone so much and worry about them when you had never even seen them? He hadn't cared what she looked like before but now that Santana had deemed her gorgeous, he wondered. Santana after all had pretty good taste in girls. He needed to stop thinking about this, stop thinking about her. It was pointless anyway, she wasn't here and he would be gone before she got back. Finn checked the oven and went to sit at the kitchen table with a glass of orange juice, he could hear movement upstairs. He made a final effort to put Quinn out of his mind, as much as he didn't want to he needed to get back into soldier mode and he couldn't be distracted.

"Something smells good." He heard from the doorway and he saw Santana rubbing her eyes.

"Ham and cheese frittata." Finn answered as Santana poured a cup of hot cocoa.

She sat down and smiled a sleepy smile at him. "My favorite, you keep this up and I won't let you go back."

Finn shrugged and got up to get the toaster ready. "I can't believe that my leave is almost up, it flew by."

Santana looked down at her cup and lost a little of her smile, "Finn I want to finish our talk from before."

"I thought we were done."

"No you were done but I wasn't. I think that you are being a hypocrite, you don't want to start something with Quinn because you won't be here but you had no problem setting up Kurt with Blaine. Unless I am mistaken Blaine is going off to dangerland with you. What do you have to say about that?" she said accusingly.

After years of losing arguments with her he knew a lost cause when he saw it. "I am a hypocrite San but it is different for them than me." He tried to explain.

"How is it different? From what I see the only difference is that Kurt wears more eyeliner than Quinn and has a larger shoe collection." Santana said as she got up to stand by him at the counter.

"What I mean is that I have you guys, I have people that care about me. People to keep me tethered to this world. Blaine…well Blaine he doesn't have anyone. His family kicked him out after he came out, he lost most of his friends and well he is just so alone. He needs someone to come home to, or at least a possibility of one. He can't go into combat with nothing to lose…that is when people end up dead." Finn said quietly in case anyone else was getting up.

"So let me make sure that I understand this. You brought Blaine here so that he could fall for Kurt? But you didn't know that Kurt would come home."

Finn nodded, "I was hoping that he would come, if not I would have made a daytrip to New York with Blaine. And it wasn't like I was pimping out Kurt; I thought that they would get along. I thought Blaine needed a friend.

Santana's pov

She couldn't believe her brother, leave it to him to try and make a love connection before shipping out. "I will give it to you that they get along, they get along like they have known each other for years so yeah you get points for making a good match but why them and not you?" she asked as she handed Finn a few slices of bread. "You didn't want Quinn to have to go through a long distance relationship but you have no problem putting Kurt in that same position."

"I am not saying that it is right or fair. Trust me when I say that I don't want Kurt hurt, I just wanted to have Blaine see that there is more to life than the marine corps. I didn't know that they would bond so quickly, I just wanted Blaine to have someone that he could talk to." Finn said as he buttered some toast.

"I guess I can accept that but don't you want that too?" Santana asked as Finn moved to the oven.

"I have people to talk to, I have you and mom and dad. To try and change things with Quinn will complicate things; she has enough going on without my drama added to it. Santana put yourself in my position, what would you do?" Finn asked as he took the delicious smelling breakfast casserole out of the oven.

Santana thought about it, she thought about what happened with Britt but that was different, the distance wouldn't have been a problem if the feelings had been real. She had to admit that distance was a problem in any relationship but it wasn't insurmountable. But to put herself in Finn's combat boots it was different than just going to a different college. She thought about how hard it would be to have to go to a strange and hostile country and not be able to tell your loved one where you were or what you were doing. Santana though about how she would feel knowing that the person that you left behind would worry; she knew that worry all too well, Finn hadn't even left yet and that worry never left her mind. She couldn't blame him for not wanting Quinn to worry; the problem was that she knew that she already did. "I would want the people that I care about know that I care about them. I know that you think that you are sparing her from worry and hurt but she is going to feel that anyway. You don't think that she will be checking every news report for your name? That is who she is; even if you never get together she is going to worry about you."

Finn got plates out for everyone and she heard noises upstairs and knew that her parents would be down in a few minutes. Finn looked at the plates, "That is what dad said. I don't want anyone to worry. Not you, not mom or dad and certainly not Quinn."

"Well tough because we do and you can't stop us." She said as she grabbed his hand. Further conversation would have to wait as their parents appeared with Blaine following close behind.

_In a passenger van driving back to Yale two hours later_

Quinn's pov

The van was noisy and crowded and Quinn wished that she had her ipod and headphones. She liked her classmates but after two days with them she was ready to get home. Walden Pond had been interesting and educational but she was a little happy that her teacher had come down with the stomach flu and they were on their way home early. She had her first exam in the morning and she wanted to touch up one of her papers before she turned it in. There of course was another reason for wanting to get home and that was there should be a letter waiting for her, Finn's last letter. She felt her heart flutter a little at the thought. She had purposely left out mentioning to him in her letters about what they would do after the assignment ended and he didn't bring it up either. She was a coward, she had wanted to write him about how much he had affected her life and that she thought about him all of the time but instead she wrote that she appreciated the help from him. "How lame was that? He won't want anything to do with me after that." she thought. Quinn wondered what he was doing right then, was he training or joking around with Blaine and Artie? Maybe he was reading…maybe he was thinking about her. She shook her head as if to clear the thoughts away, she couldn't let herself go there. Her attention was brought back to the here and now by the driver saying that they were almost to the school. She looked out of the window; she smiled at the familiar landmarks and was surprised to see what looked like Santana's jeep in the lane next to her. As the car got closer she could see that it wasn't her roommate driving but a guy, it couldn't be Santana's car. She was about to go back to her daydreaming when something told her to take a second look. The jeep was just about to pass by her window when she recognized him, holy flying monkeys it was Finn!

Quinn couldn't hold back the squeal that earned her some weird stares from her classmates but Quinn didn't care. She mentally urged the driver to go faster as her mind went to a thousand different places. Why was Finn here? How long was he staying? Would he want to meet her? Why didn't Santana tell her that he was coming? Did Santana not want her to meet him? Had his visit been a surprise? She needed to calm down. Quinn took a deep breath and made a plan; she would drop off her bag and decided to ride her bike to the Lopez house.

She sat impatiently for the next few minutes and jumped out of the van before it came to a complete stop. Quinn slid on some slushy snow and almost fell. She ran to her dorm room and unlocked the door with shaky fingers, she threw her bag in and grabbed her phone. She locked the door so fast that she wasn't even sure if it had actually locked. She reached the bike shed in record time and pulled hers out and set off for the Lopez house.

Quinn tried to keep her thoughts on not getting into an accident but they kept going back to Finn, would he be happy to see her? She was out of breath by the time she reached the Lopez's street. She stopped the bike a few houses away to compose herself, she didn't want to freak him out and first impressions were important to her. She knew that her hair was a mess, after two days of rustic conditions her hair had seen better days; "Oh why didn't she at least brush it before leaving her room?" she thought angrily. There was nothing she could do about it now. She pedaled slowly up to the house as she tried to gather her courage and saw that the whole Lopez family plus a few others was in the driveway. She could see Marisol hug an unfamiliar boy and Rick hug Finn. She hadn't imagined him.

Finn's pov

He hated goodbyes, he wasn't any good at them and he hated to see his mom or Santana cry. He could see that Santana was trying to hold back her tears but his mom had lost that battle a few minutes before. He pulled back from his hug from Kurt and that is when he saw her. He was certain that time had stopped, and as clichéd as it sounds all he could see was her. She was about Santana's height and had beautiful blond hair that was pulled into a messy ponytail. She looked out of breath as she dropped her bike on the lawn, right on a snow drift. Finn felt his feet take him in her direction, it wasn't a conscious decision, he wasn't capable of any thoughts at the moment, and all his body knew was that it wanted to be closer to her. She walked towards him and all Finn could think was she had the most amazing eyes, they were hazel with hints of green in them, and he could have gotten lost in her eyes. She looked nervous and was biting on her lower lip. "Oh god her lips, what he would do to touch her lips." He thought. He tried to form words but his own lips failed him.

The world started moving again when he heard Santana scream, "Quinn! What are you doing here?" Finn looked around before his eyes fell back on the girl in front of him that his sister was hugging. Santana stood between them and looked from one to the other. "Quinn I would like to introduce my speech challenged brother and Finn this is my unusually mute roommate Quinn." She said with a smirk.

"Hi" she said shyly and shifted from foot to foot.

"You are Quinn?" he asked and then instantly felt stupid, of course she was Quinn.

She laughed and it was music to Finn's ears and she smiled before saying, "Yeah I am Quinn. I can't believe that you are here. I mean you are really here."

It was his turn to smile and laugh, "Yeah I am really here."

"So are we." Kurt interjected with a laugh, "Hi Quinn."

"Oh hi Kurt." She said with a blush as her eyes didn't leave his gaze.

"I am Blaine, I serve with Finn." Blaine offered as he stepped up, "I have heard a lot about you. Your letters keep Finn entertained for hours." He joked.

"Letters, yes letters." Finn thought as he took a step backwards to the car and reached for his bag, he saw Quinn's smile falter a little when he retreated but he was back when he found what he was looking for.

Finn smiled broadly as he stepped forward and held the letter out in front of him. "I was hoping to deliver this in person." She reached for the letter and her fingers grazed over his and he was certain that he felt a surge of electricity course through his entire body. All of his doubts about what he wanted concerning her were gone. He didn't care about the distance he would find a way to get closer to her. In fact he wanted to pull her close to him right now but fought the urge but just barely. He wondered if she felt it as well. He let out a shaky breath and watched her take a step back. He was about to say something when his mom spoke.

"I am so sorry honey but if you are going to make your flight we really need to leave now."

All he could do was nod. He didn't want to go. He saw Blaine give Kurt a hug and a brief kiss before getting in the car. His mom got in beside Blaine and sent a sad smile in Quinn's direction. Santana looked at Quinn and back at him, "I will give you a moment but we really do need to go." She said unhappily.

"You are leaving now?" Quinn asked dejectedly as she looked at her shoes.

"It sucks but yeah." He said and then surprised himself by taking her hand. Quinn looked up to his eyes and he could see tears forming and all he wanted to do was kiss them away. "Write me?" he asked hopefully.

Quinn didn't answer but instead a smile graced her face and she leaned forward up onto her toes and cupped his cheek with her free hand and placed a light kiss upon his lips. It lasted only a second but in that second Finn couldn't remember ever anything like it. It was the single best moment of his life.

"Was that a yes?" he asked feeling a bit dazed. He watched her touch her lips with her fingers.

"Yes, that was a yes, of course I will write, will you?" she asked biting her lip again and Finn was pretty sure it was the single most adorable thing in the world.

Finn nodded enthusiastically, "I will write, I will write every chance I get."

"Finn we have to go." Santana called from the car.

"I have to go now." He said as he stepped towards the car, still holding her hand. "Good luck on your finals." He said as he opened the door, god he was bad at saying goodbye.

"Thank you." she said softly and gripped his hand a little tighter.

"I suck at goodbyes." Finn admitted as he let go of her hand and got in the car.

Before he could close the door Quinn leaned in and kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear, "Then it is a good thing that this isn't goodbye, it was an incredible hello." She closed the door and Santana pulled away before he found his voice again.

"Wow."

A/N

Ah see fate isn't that cruel Luvdianagr. I wanted to thank you all for your reviews. You guys spurred me on to get this chapter done before my work week started. Now I get to blame you for my dirty house since I neglected my chores in order to write. I am back to sixty hour work weeks so I have no idea when the next chapter will be written. Let me know how I am doing, I love reviews.


	9. Chapter 9 Car Conversations Part Deux

A/N What can I say, sorry for the wait, this was my first day off since the last chapter got posted. I have been working ten hour days every day and let me tell you I am more than a little tired. So here is chapter 9, standard disclaimer apply, I don't own glee or its characters. Enjoy!

Chapter 9 Car Conversations part deux

_On the way to the airport_

Santana's pov

She had been driving for about five minutes and no one had said a word. Finn had a glazed over expression on his face, her mom was smiling and watching Finn and Blaine was busy texting on his phone (most likely comparing notes with Kurt on what had just occurred in the driveway.) Santana was trying to concentrate on her driving but she kept looking over at her brother. She thought that she knew all of his facial expressions but this one was new. It was a mix of happy and terrified. Santana smiled to herself as she replayed Quinn's and Finn's first meeting, she would have never expected Quinn to be so bold in kissing him, sure it wasn't like the girl had crammed her tongue down his throat but it wasn't completely chaste either. It might have been the sweetest kiss she had ever seen. She couldn't wait until she got back to their dorm room to interrogate the blonde on what she was thinking. But for right now she wanted to find out what was going through her brother's head.

"Finn?" she asked. Finn didn't respond so Santana nudged his knee and said a little more pointedly, "Finn."

"Huh? What?" he finally answered.

"Did Quinn break your brain?" Santana smirked.

"Don't tease your brother." Their mom laughed as she reached forward to squeeze Finn's shoulder. "It's not every day a beautiful girl kisses him."

Finn turned a deep shade of crimson and slouched down in his seat but Santana wasn't going to let him get out of this conversation that easy. "So what happened to you wanting to not get further involved with Quinn huh? I think that the kisses, hand holding and looks of longing are part of the more than friends category."

"She kissed me…" Finn said quietly as his fingers grazed his lips.

"Yeah we all saw. So what are you going to do about it?" Santana asked as she turned onto the freeway. Everyone leaned in to hear his answer.

"I don't know, I mean I had come up with a bunch of different scenarios of us meeting but none of them were like that." Finn said as he stared out the window. "I need to think."

Santana started to speak but her mom beat her to it, "Finn take your time but remember that whatever you decide affects Quinn too. She really cares about you."

Santana decided to add her two cents, "Don't hurt my friend, you may be bigger but I can still take you." she threatened.

"I don't want to hurt her." He said as he stared off in the distance.

"We know that you don't honey." Marisol said assuring tone. "We just want you to be happy and Quinn is such a wonderful girl…"

Finn turned around in his seat to face his mom and interrupted her , "Mom I need a pen and paper do you have any in your purse?"

"Of course I don't go anywhere without my notepad." She did a quick search of her mammoth bag and produced a notebook and pen. She handed them to Finn and Santana watched as he started to jot down words as soon as he was turned back around.

Santana started to speak again but saw her mom shake her head so she kept her mouth shut. But Santana knew that before Finn got on his plane she would get an answer out of him.

_Back at the Lopez house_

Quinn's pov

She wasn't sure how long she had been standing in Santana's driveway it could have been a minute or an hour, she didn't know and quite frankly she didn't care; all that mattered at the moment was that for a brief moment Finn was there with her. He had held her hand and smiled, the charge that she felt when he took her hand. He had an amazing smile and the way his eyes… well she was pretty sure that she would get lost in the quicksand of his chocolate colored eyes. The kiss, what the hell had come over her! It wasn't her first kiss she had dated Sam for six months but it blew away any kiss that had ever come from him. The fact that she had initiated it was almost as big of shock; she had never been the initiator. She was snapped out of her thoughts by Kurt gently shaking her shoulder.

"Quinn are you okay?" he asked kindly.

"I am think so." She answered as she shivered, she had forgotten to grab a coat.

Kurt smiled as he handed her his jacket, "Mr. Lopez is going to drop me off at the train station, want a ride back to the university since it is the way?"

Quinn nodded as she put on the jacket. She watched Santana's dad put her bike in the back of his Chevy Tahoe. He motioned for them to get in the suv, she got in the back seat. Kurt joined her. "I hate to pry, oh who am I kidding I love to pry. Quinn what is going through you pretty head right now?" he asked as he took her hand.

"Honestly?" Quinn said as she looked over to him.

"Yes, the truth."

"So many things. It is hard to decipher what I am thinking it is all mixed up."

"Alright, how about how you feel?" Kurt prodded.

Quinn let out a small laugh as she shook her head, "I am probably just as confused about that too. I don't know Kurt, I am happy and sad and frustrated."

"Okay, I get that. It wasn't like you had time to prepare for this."

"That is just it Kurt I have dreamed about that moment where I would finally meet him a thousand times. I think I blew it." Quinn said as she wiped a few burgeoning tears away.

"Ah sweetie you didn't blow anything. Did you not see Finn's face? He was thrilled to see you. I can't tell you how many times he asked about you or talked about you this weekend."

Quinn looked up hopefully, "He asked about me?"

Kurt nodded solemnly, "I speak the truth."

Mr. Lopez spoke from the driver's seat. "It's true Quinn; Finn couldn't go ten minutes without mentioning you. He was disappointed when he thought that he wouldn't get to see you."

Quinn couldn't believe her ears and smiled but then the smile faltered, "If he wanted to see me why didn't he write me that he was coming? Why didn't Santana tell me?"

Kurt shook his head, "It was spur of the moment. There was no plan, he just called Santana Friday afternoon after you had already left and asked her to pick him and Blaine up at the airport. No one was keeping this from you." he said reassuringly.

Quinn nodded thoughtfully, "And no one could tell me about it since I didn't have my phone."

"Right." Kurt said as he gave her hand a squeeze. They were almost to the university when Kurt said, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to but what made you kiss him?"

Quinn looked at Kurt and saw the concern on his face, he was asking as Finn's best friend. "I am not sure when it happened exactly but somewhere between Santana telling me about how Finn told her it was okay if she liked girls and him writing me about how on a dare he fit twenty-three marshmallows in his mouth I wanted to kiss him. I knew the moment he smiled at me that I had to. I am not sure what came over me because I have never done anything like that before but I couldn't help myself. God I hope that he doesn't think that I am like that crazy stalker girl."

Kurt smiled and laughed, "Quinn I am positive that Finn liked it and never in a million years would he think that you were at all like Berry."

Quinn let out a sigh of relief, "Good so I you don't think that I have scared him off do you?"

Mr. Lopez pulled into a parking spot near Quinn's dorm and answered, "No Quinn. I know my boy and I would bet anything that right now he is worrying about the same things that you are. You might need to give a little time because he isn't the best at sorting out his feelings. But I know that he cares about you and wants what is best for you." He got out of the suv and opened Quinn's door before going to the trunk to retrieve her bike.

Quinn got out and Kurt followed, she shrugged off Kurt's jacket and handed it back to him. He tossed it onto the back seat, "Quinn I have known Finn since I was six, I have never seen him as happy as when you rode up on that bike. Believe that."

Kurt opened his arms wide and pulled her into a hug, she rested her head on his shoulder, "Thank you." she said into his shirt.

"Well if you really want to thank me you will keep me informed about all things fuinn." He laughed as he released her."

"Fuinn?" she asked with a confused look.

"You know Finn and Quinn mashed together. Would you rather be called Fabson? Blaine and I are Kaine."

Quinn laughed, "Oh so there is a you and Blaine now? I think I will need details on that; I missed a lot this weekend. I guess fuinn is fine."

It was Kurt's turn to blush, "I am sure that Santana will fill you in." He gave her another brief hug and got into the front seat of the Tahoe.

Quinn turned to face Mr. Lopez, who was holding her bike. "Thank you sir for the ride and everything."

"How many time do I have to tell you to call me Rick Quinn? And there is no need for thanks." He said with a smile, as she took the bike from him. She smiled back and walked with him around the car. "See you next Sunday for dinner?" he asked.

"Definitely." Quinn said with a nod.

Rick nodded as he got into his car, "Good see you then."

"Bye Quinn!" Kurt said as they pulled out of the parking area.

Quinn wave goodbye and went to put the bike away when she felt something in her hoodie pocket. She did a little happy dance when she realized that it was Finn's letter to her. How could she have forgotten about it?! Of right her mind was a little preoccupied with the fact that she had kissed him. She rushed up to her room and ripped the envelope open as soon as she got the lights on. She could see that it was a shorter letter than usual. She read:

_Dear Quinn,_

_This was a difficult letter to write for me. I am pretty sure that I have started this letter at least seven times. It was hard because I don't know if this is the last letter that I write to you. I hope not. I know that we haven't talked about what would happen after your assignment ended but if you are game I would love to keep getting letters from you. To poach a line from your first letter to me 'I would understand completely if you have much better things to do.' Now that I have filled my begging quota for the day I should get to your final topic question._

_You asked me if I was happy with the life that I have chosen for myself and it is a difficult thing to answer. It almost made me miss the question about my sex life, that had been so much easier to answer. Am I happy? The short answer is yes on most days I am happy. I am doing what I feel I need to do. I have a wonderful family and great friends (and I count you as one of them Q). The long answer is well it is long and would take up way too many pages so I will condense it down. The life that I have chosen takes me away from the people I love but it puts me in the position to protect them and others. I have been trained to take a life and that is something that I hope that I never actually have to do. I know that if I truly needed to I would kill but I don't want to. I have chosen a life that makes the people I care most about worry about me and I hate that. Although I am sure that they would worry if I had decided to play college football too. I guess you cannot help worrying about the people that you are for, I worry about you. The worst part of the life that I have chosen is that I have to keep things from the people that I love; I can't tell them what I am doing or where I am going. Some of it I want to keep to myself but sometimes good things happen too. I have never been good at lying or keeping my mouth shut when it comes to my friends or family. Wow when you read this it sounds like I am not happy but trust me I am. The good outweighs the bad; at least it does to me. Santana would probably disagree, I know that she supports me and is proud of me but I get the feeling that hates my decision to join up. Did you know that she was going to join up with me? I had to convince her that she was needed more back home and that her being a doctor was much more important than her trying to keep me out of trouble. _

_I hope that your finals go smoothly; I know that you will do great. I hear from San that you are spending spring break with her and my parents. I know that the guest room bed isn't the most comfortable so if you want feel free to stay in my room. The bed is great and then you can look through my books and records. I only ask that you stay out of my underwear drawer for well… obvious reasons. I trust you._

_If I don't hear back from you well I hope that you have a great life, that you keep writing your stories and that you and Santana continue to become better friends. Find the good in each day Quinn. Know that each of your letters was the highlight of everyday I got one. _

_Your friend,_

_Finn_

Quinn set the letter down and lay back on her bed. She smiled as she thought about his words. He cared about her, he worried about her and he trusted her. His words combined with the way she felt from the kiss that they shared this was going down as the best day ever in her mind.

_Airport_

Finn's pov

His and Blaine's flight was delayed so Santana and his mom had decided to stick around. Blaine and his mom were currently getting some food for everyone. That left him alone sitting at a table in the waiting area with Santana "The Interrogator" Lopez.

"Just ask San I know you want to." Finn finally said.

"I have no idea what you are talking about Finnocence." She said innocently.

"You want to know what I am going to do about Quinn now that I have met her."

Well now that you mention it what are you going to do?" Santana said quirking her eyebrow.

Finn wrung his hands as he rested his elbows on the table. "All of the things I said before are still valid; it is not fair to Quinn to start something when I am leaving."

"But I saw the way you looked at her; you can't tell me that you don't have feelings for her!" Santana accused.

"Settle down San… I wasn't finished." Finn set his hands flat on the table and leaned back in his chair and dropped his head back to stare at the ceiling. "When I was trying to figure things out when she was just Quinn from letters it was hard but to see her, to touch her…to kiss her. San I couldn't back off if I wanted to. I want more. I don't know how we are going to make it work but I will find a way. When she kissed me it was like a switch was flipped in me, I felt an electrical current surge through me. I have never felt more alive. For that brief moment the rest of the world disappeared and it was just her and me. I have never felt that before in a kiss and since you and Kurt blackmailed me into running the kissing booth at school for two years you know that I have had my fair share of kisses." He looked at his sister for her reaction to his confession.

Santana stayed silent which surprised Finn, he expected her to at the very least to tease him. Instead she took his hands in hers, "What can I do to help?" she asked simply.

Finn must have looked confused because Santana repeated, "What can I do to help? What can I do to help you make this work Finn?"

"You want to help?" Finn asked his heart swelling with love for his sister.

"Well duh Finn what did I just say? Of course I want to help I love you and I love Quinn. I want you both to be happy. Like I told you before the long distance relationship thing won't be easy but it can be done."

Finn smiled and squeezed Santana's hands, "Thank you San. I don't know where to start; I guess write to her every chance I get. I have never been in a relationship so I am a little out of my element here. You know more about relationships than me any suggestions?" As soon as he said it Finn wished he could take it back, he knew that Santana was still sensitive talking about Brittany.

But once again his sister surprised him, "I know that Quinn absolutely loves getting letters from you but you need to do more. The long distance wasn't what killed Britt and me it was the lack of communication, I am not saying that the distance didn't hurt us but it was the fact neither of us made the effort to keep in contact. I think if you are serious in making it work with Quinn you are going to need to go the extra mile. Phone calls, skyping, letters whatever it takes Finn."

Finn nodded, he could do all of those, it wouldn't be easy; he knew that once he was deployed communication would be limited. "You really think that we could work?" He asked.

Santana gave a short laugh, "Finn why do you think that I suggested you to Q as her pen pal? I knew after a few minutes with Quinn that the two of you would hit it off."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." Santana said rolling her eyes.

The conversation ended as their mom and Blaine came back with a plate of french fries and some sodas. Everyone ate in mostly comfortable silence, Finn knew that neither his mom or Santana was ready for him to leave. Blaine's phone alerted him that he got a new text. "That was Kurt, he is on his train back to the city and he and your dad dropped off Quinn at her dorm. He says for us to have safe travels and… oh that is private." The dark haired boy blushed.

Before anyone could tease him Finn noticed that the reader board had changed and that his and Blaine's flight would be ready soon. He stood up and first hugged his mom, he could feel her tears dampen his shirt and he fought back tears himself. "You take care of yourself Finn, no being a hero. I know that it is in your blood but try and be safe." She said through her tears.

"You know?" Finn asked as he hugged her tighter.

"Of course I know, I am your mother, we always know." She pulled away and hugged Blaine, "You too, be safe. You will always be welcome in our home. Look after my boy won't you?"

Blaine got a little choked up, "Yes, of course I will."

Santana grabbed Blaine and hugged him as well, "Don't let him do anything stupid, you know the kinds of things that they give medals out for."

Blaine laughed, "I will try."

Finn waited until Santana let go of Blaine before pulling her into a tight hug. "God I hate saying goodbye San."

"Me too. I hope you know that I will be wanting more than letters too. I wants my skyping and calls." Santana said in a muffled voice since her face was pressed into his shirt.

"I promise I will do everything I can to stay in better touch." He said as relaxed his grip on her.

"You better otherwise I will have to hunt you down and go all Snix on you." Santana said as she pulled away and gave a tearful smirk.

Finn held up his hands in surrender and laughed, "Whoa no need to go all Snix on me I will call." He looked at the line at the security check point and gave a little nod to Blaine. "I guess it is time to go." He started to walk away when he remembered he one more thing to do before he left. "San can you do me a favor and give this to Quinn?" he handed her the letter that he wrote during the drive to the airport. Santana nodded and gave him one more quick hug. Finn walked to the metal detectors and gave one last glance at his family before passing through them. He watched them wave and his mom wipe a tear away, yep goodbye suck.

_A little over an hour later at the dorms_

Santana's pov

Santana was exhausted, it had been and emotionally tiring day and she wanted to get into her fleece jammie pants and sleep but before she could do that she needed to talk to Quinn. She found Quinn on her bed going over her study notes since she had a final the next day. She hadn't even noticed that Santana was home yet, she was that deep in thought. Quinn finally looked up, "Hey you are back!" she said gleefully, "The guys get on their plane okay? How was the visit?"

Santana laughed, "Whoa, one thing at a time, yeah their flight was delayed a little but they should be back in California in a little over three hours. The visit was great, I couldn't believe how much I missed my idiot brother. Blaine was pretty awesome too. Kurt totally hooked up with him I just know it."

She watched as Quinn nodded along smiling. "I have something for you, Finn gave it to me." She watched Quinn's smile grow even bigger and she handed her friend the folded piece of paper. Santana wanted to give Quinn a little privacy so she went to her side of the room to let the girl read.

Quinn's pov

Two letters in one day! She unfolded the letter and first noticed that Finn's normally neat handwriting was a little wobbly, she deduced that he must have written it in the car. She started to read:

_I don't know how to start this letter Quinn, Dear Quinn sounds too formal and Hi Q doesn't feel right either so I am just going to say Quinn you took my breath away today. I have never met anyone as beautiful as you. I know that sounds like a cheesy line but it is true. Everything that happened in those few minutes that we were together were amazing. I don't know if you felt it but when our hands touched I felt a spark. Don't even get me started on the kiss. Best. Kiss. Ever. _

_I guess what I am trying to get at is that I think that we have moved past pen pals, the feelings that I have for you go beyond that of my sister's roommate. I think that we could have something real. I am not sure how yet but I want to try. I know that it isn't fair to you to ask you to start a long distance relationship with me and I wish that I could be unselfish and let you go but I can't. I hope that you feel the same way. Before you make a decision though you need to know something; I am being deployed soon, maybe as soon as next week or sooner soon. I won't know how often I will be able to send mail or receive it but I will make it my mission to write you every chance I get. I hope that you will give me a chance, give us a chance._

_Love,_

_Finn_

_P.S. The way you bite your lower lip was seriously one of the hottest things I have ever seen._

Quinn put the letter down and was flooded with emotions. She closed her eyes and lay down. Finn wanted to try and be in a relationship with her, he had felt everything she had in their few minutes together and he thought she was beautiful. But he was being deployed, she felt tears building within her and she knew that there was no holding them in. From his first letter she knew that there was more than a good chance of him getting shipped out but she always pushed it out of her mind. The tears started to flow and she felt the bed dip before she felt two strong arms wrap themselves around her and pull her into an embrace. "It's going to be okay Quinn, he will be okay." Santana said quietly as she held her, she kissed the top of Quinn's head. "Everything will be okay." More than anything Quinn wanted to believe her.

A/N I know it's a little angsty but that is what you get from a writer that is seriously sleep deprived. But I did finally get Fuinn together so hopefully you guys won't be too upset. I have good news and bad news, good news is that I have the next few chapters outlined, the bad news is that I have no idea when my next day off will be, so it could be a few weeks until the next chapter gets written/posted. As always I love reviews.


	10. Chapter 10 Missed Calls and Tater Tots

A/N Ha it only took me a week to get this out, I am a little proud of myself, granted it meant that I didn't go grocery shopping today so if I starve to death it is this chapter's fault. I wanted to say thanks to: x0097-Fuinn, Ann, Fuinn13, eaulby and Luvdianagr for almost always reviewing. I appreciate it. I don't own glee or its characters. I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 10 Missed Calls and Tater Tots

_Night before last day of final exams- dorm room_

Santana's pov

Thank god exams were almost over all Santana had left was her biology lab exam and she could do that in her sleep. She set her study flashcards down on her pillow as she looked at Quinn across the room. The blonde had her nose buried in her American literature book and hadn't come up for air in two hours. "Q put down the book, we need a study break." Santana ordered and saw that her roommate looked up.

"I have to get through three more chapters San, I don't have time for a break." Quinn protested as she pushed her sliding reading glasses back up on her nose.

Santana shook her head, "You have already read that book four times Q. Now put it down, Dr. Lopez's orders." She said with a knowing smirk.

"You have a long ways to go before you can call yourself a doctor San. You are barely a pre-med student." Quinn countered but she did put her book down so Santana could call it a win for her. Quinn took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I guess now is as good of time for a break as any the dining hall shouldn't be too full right now."

"Good idea, a full stomach will help." Santana said as she grabbed her wallet with her student id/meal card. She held the door for Quinn and followed her to the elevator. Santana wanted to talk to her friend about Finn but knew that this wasn't the time. All week she had wanted to bring up the elephant in the room but it was finals week and they both needed their minds on their tests. She was more than a little frustrated because she had held Quinn and let her cry Sunday night and then the girl had pretended it hadn't happened when they woke up on Quinn's bed Monday morning. Santana knew that Quinn's mind must be reeling from the events of that day, hers certainly were, and she just wanted to see where Quinn's mind and heart were. She wanted Quinn to be the one to bring it up and she knew that when she was ready she would talk.

They walked in silence to the dining hall; no one was out on the chilly night. Everyone must be in the dorms or libraries studying Santana thought as they went into the warm dining hall. It was pretty deserted and there was no line for food so they walked right up to the serving area.

Quinn handed her a plate and one for herself and went straight to filling her plate with a serving of the cheese enchiladas while Santana scooped a large portion of tater tots (the last in the tray) before moving onto the mac and cheese. They grabbed some bottles of water and went to the cashier to swipe their meal cards. Quinn pointed towards some empty table near fireplace, "Over there San." Santana followed her and sat down letting the warmth of the fire wash over her. They both dug into their food.

"So how was your presentation today? Renaissance verses Elizabethan literature right?" Santana asked as she popped a tater tot in her mouth. She had always thought that Mercedes love of tots was bordering on the insane but now she understood, they were little nuggets of potato heaven.

Quinn took a drink of her water before nodding, "I think it went well, it was hard to tell I was a little nervous."

"I am sure that you rocked it, I am pretty sure that you were doing in your sleep last night." Santana teased.

Quinn rolled her eyes and stole one of Santana's tots off her plate, "How did your inorganic chem exam go?"

"I am going to let that slide once Fabray, no one takes my tots." Santana said in her best mock-menacing voice but then changed tone and smiled, "I killed it of course, it was a slight bit harder than I thought it would be but I feel confident about it." They both ate in silence after that before Quinn pushed her empty plate away from her at the table and turned to face her.

"Just ask San, I know that you have been wanting to all week. It must be killing you."

Santana pretended to not understand her and shook her head, she laughed a little in her head since Finn had used almost the exact same phrase a few days before, "I have no idea what you are talking about Q, is there something that you want to talk about?"

"You know what about Santana." Quinn said sternly. "Finn."

"Oh Finn."

"Yes Finn."

"Well now that you bring it up, are you okay with all that has happened?" Santana said with a small smile.

Quinn gave her a slight nod, "I think so, it was a lot to take in, you know? I mean I saw him for less than five minutes and now he is going to god knows where. I mean he could have left already." Santana put her hand over her friends and gave it a squeeze and Quinn continued, "I have been trying to figure out how I feel…god I can't imagine how you and your family are feeling. I am sorry San I am being so selfish."

"Nah Quinn you are not being selfish, you have every right to feel whatever you feel. Yeah it sucks and I am scared to death for him but I have to have faith that he will take care of himself." Santana said as she got up from her seat. "Let's go back to our room to finish this talk, okay?" Quinn nodded and followed her to the plate return. It only took a few minutes to get back to the dorm.

Santana sat down on her bed and patted the seat beside her and once Quinn joined her she spoke, "Listen Q I don't know where your head at on all of this but I want you to know that you threw Finn for a loop when he met you. I have never seen him so excited or nervous."

Quinn laughed softly, "Yeah?"

Santana nodded, "I know my brother and he told me that he wants to make this, whatever it is, work and I believe him. He will move heaven and earth if he sets his mind to it. So what I need to know is do you want it to work?"

"Of course I do, I can't believe that you would even need to ask me that Santana."

"Well now that that is settled I need to ask because it has been killing me all week. What possessed you to kiss him? I mean damn Q I have never seen you so bold before, I didn't know that you had it in you." Santana teased with a big smile on her face.

Quinn shook her head and covered her blushing face with her hands. "Truthfully I don't know what came over me but in that moment I just had to kiss him. I still can't believe that I did that."

"Quinn you went with your heart and there is nothing wrong with that. I have one more thing to say and then I will try to let you go back to your studying." Quinn nodded and let her continue, "I love my brother, he is one of the best people that I know but he can also be one of the biggest idiots that I know as well so please be patient with him. He has never been in a relationship before and this is all new to him."

"San the way I see it this is a first for me too. I have never felt like this before. I realize that what I had with Sam before was nothing but glorified companionship. I want more than anything to make this work with Finn so yes I will be patient and hope that he will be as patient with me as well because I feel like I am going out on a tightrope blindfolded right now with no safety net below." Quinn said and Santana knew instinctively that she was telling the truth.

"Well I will do my best to help you anyway that I can so that you don't plummet to your death." Santana said with a hint of a teasing tone. Santana looked over to her nightstand and saw that her phone was flashing, indicating that she had missed a call, she had realized that she had left it behind when they left for dinner. She grabbed the phone as Quinn gave her a brief hug before going back to her own bed. She didn't recognize the number but saw that whoever called had left a voicemail; she punched in her code and was shocked to recognize the recorded voice:

"Hey, I mean hello Santana. You probably don't recognize my voice it has been a while but it's Alex, you know Finn's cousin. I hope you remember me. God what am I saying of course you remember me I stayed at your house for three summers. And now I am rambling I sound like an idiot. How do I start over…" Santana heard some buttons being pushed and some hushed swearing before Alex started over and must not have realized that she hadn't erased the first message. "Hi Santana, this is Alex, Alex Hudson, Finn's cousin. How many Alex Hudsons could you know? Never mind. I know that is has been a long time since you have heard from me, I hope that you are doing well. I guess you are wondering why I am calling, Finn told me that you were going to Yale now and well I am being stationed in your area, well an hour away at New London Submarine base. I am going to be a MP there you know military police. I get a week off before I need to report and thought that maybe you would like to get together. I…I don't know anyone else in the area and I thought it would be fun to catch up with you…and your family. I am driving up and should be in your area Saturday. You have my number so give me a call. I…I completely understand if you have plans and can't but I hope that you want to meet up. Bye. This is Alex by the way if I forgot to say it in the beginning."

Wow Santana hadn't expected that. She smiled at how nervous Alex sounded and then it clicked that Alex was coming here, coming to see her. Santana listened to the message again to make sure she heard it right. Okay Alex was in fact moving here. She thanked god or whoever was looking out for her that she hadn't brought the phone with her at dinner because she was pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to say a word if she had answered the phone. Santana started to breathe a little harder and Quinn must have noticed because she put her book down and looked concerned.

"Santana are you alright? Who called? Did something bad happen? Was it about Finn?" her voice sounding a little panicky.

Santana shook her head, "Not Finn…"

"Then what San?"

"Alex."

"Okay who is Alex, wait Finn's cousin Alex?"

All Santana could manage was to nod.

"Alright so Alex called, why would that have you almost hyperventilating?" Quinn asked with a puzzled look on her face and then it broke into a smile. "Oh I get it. You like her."

"What?! No I don't like her Q! She is Finn's cousin, she is family that would be wrong. Sick and wrong…right?"

Quinn laughed and made the short walk over to Santana's bed. "The way I see it, she is Finn's cousin, no blood shared between the two of you so technically she isn't your family. Do you think of her as a cousin?"

Santana shook her head slightly and Quinn continued, "Okay so I don't see a problem with your liking her. I am right about your liking her?"

She had never really let herself think about Alex in that way, when the girl first came to stay with her family Alex's mother had died a few months before and the summer had become a mission to cheer the girl up. She remember when her parents first told her and Finn that she would be staying with them, Santana had been excited about the idea because she had never had a sister before and was eager to get to know her. But when Alex came Santana realized that she didn't have sisterly feelings for the girl. Santana was still struggling with her attraction to girls but she had to admit that Alex was her first real girl crush. She was smart and funny and beautiful even at fourteen. Santana had pushed those feelings away because there was no way in hell that she could or would ever act on them. The next summer it shocked her to find out that Alex had come out as gay and told her about girl that she was sort of seeing back home. At the time Santana was starting to mess around with Brittany but it wasn't serious yet but she couldn't help but to be drawn to the visiting girl. The next summer Santana was with Brittany and had decided that she needed to put her crush to rest but it hadn't mattered because Alex had steered clear of her spending all of her time with Finn and essentially ignoring her. After that summer Alex didn't visit again.

"Santana? Have you heard a word that I have said?" Quinn said pulling her from her thoughts.

"Huh? Sorry Q. What?" Santana apologized.

"Wow, I have never seen you like this. What did this girl do to you?"

"She hasn't done anything." Santana said quietly.

"Alright, so I see you are avoiding my question about your liking her so I will move on. Was it Alex that called?" Quinn prodded.

Santana nodded and replayed the voicemail on speaker for Quinn to hear.

"So she is moving up here and wants to see you. That is a good thing right?"

Santana shrugged noncommittally, she really didn't know how to answer that.

"Do you want to see her?"

Santana didn't answer.

Quinn tried again, "Okay so let's say hypothetically that you do like Alex, in a non-familiar way, do you want to do anything about it?"

Santana took a deep breath and let it out before she could answer, "Quinn I have no idea of what I want. Just because Alex is moving up here doesn't really change anything. She sees me as Finn's sister, her cousin's sister so nothing is going to happen even if I hypothetically like her, which I am not saying that I do. As far as I know she called me because like she said she doesn't know anyone else up here but me."

"I don't know San, the way she spoke in her message, I think she might like you, she sounded pretty nervous." Quinn responded.

Before Santana could make a snappy comeback her laptop chirped indicating a skype call coming in, Santana hit the accept button and Finn's face lit up the screen. She smiled as Quinn let out a small squeal. "Finnocence!" Santana said excitedly.

"Hi San, hi Quinn. I told you I would make the effort. I only have a few minutes. How goes the exams?" Finn said with a big smile; Santana could see that his eyes were on Quinn.

"They are going fine, almost done we each have one left tomorrow." Santana answered. "How are things with you?"

"Busy, I can't really say more but the next time I call I will be in a different time zone." He said with a hint of sadness. "Anything exciting happen with you two?"

Santana was about to say no when Quinn spoke up, "Yeah your cousin Alex called Santana, she is being stationed up here and wants to see her."

Santana wanted to smack Quinn on the back of her ponytailed head but didn't and instead gritted her teeth and waited for Finn's response.

Finn looked thoughtful for a moment, "Quinn could I talk to San for a minute alone?"

Quinn nodded and got up and went back to her bed and put on her headphones to give them privacy. Santana was curious of what Finn didn't want to say in front of Quinn. She didn't have to wait long. "Santana this is more than a little awkward for me so bear with me on this, how did Alex sound?"

Santana didn't know where he was going with this but answered, "I don't know she sounded a little nervous."

Finn nodded, "I don't know if I should be telling you this or not but I am tired of keeping this to myself. Do you know why Alex stopped coming to stay with us?"

"Sure, she found a summer job."

"That was part of it; the other part was that she couldn't be around you anymore."

"What are you talking about? Why couldn't she be around me? What did I do?" she said feeling very confused.

Finn tilted his head said, "Because San she couldn't stand seeing you with Brittany. It hurt too much."

So many thoughts rushed through Santana's mind at warp speed; it hurt Alex to see her with Britt, that meant that she liked her, right? Or, that she liked Britt. "What the fucking hell are you saying Finn?!"

Finn replied calmly as if he had practiced his speech, "I am trying to tell you that Alex has had feelings for you for a long time. I should start at the beginning. Alex got in touch with me a few days ago, she taught me how to use skype by the way but I am going off topic. Okay so she told me that she was being stationed less than an hour from you and she not so subtly asked about you. She asked how you were and how you and Britt were doing. I told her that the two of you had split up and that you were single and I swear I have never seen her smile so big when I told her that. I called her out on it and she told me about how she had a crush on you when she first visited. She didn't want to feel like that because you were my sister and she didn't understand her feelings and she felt like she couldn't trust them since she had just lost her mom. She spent the rest of the year after she went back home trying to figure things out and when she came back the next year she thought she was ready to tell you but you were with Britt and she didn't want to screw that up, Brittany lived here and she didn't think it would be fair to pursue you when she would be leaving in two months. She even made-up a fake girlfriend. That last summer you were in full blown couple mode with Britt and even I could see that it was killing her to be here, so she spent all of her time with me. She told me that she had been trying to work up the courage to talk to you for a while." Finn paused to let it all sink in.

Santana couldn't believe it, she heard the words but they didn't seem real. "She likes me? As in has _feelings_ for me?" she asked incredulously.

Finn nodded.

Santana shook her head, "No, no Finn you heard her wrong. She is your cousin, she is family, and she likes me like family should."

"Do you hear yourself San, she is _my_ cousin, not _your_ cousin. There is nothing wrong with this." Finn answered.

"That is what I said!" Quinn piped in.

"I thought you weren't listening Q?!"

"I started when I could see that you were being an idiot." Quinn replied as she crossed the room. "San likes her too but she is too scared to admit it."

Finn nodded, "All I wanted to say San is that I wanted you to be open to listening to her, she took a big step in calling you."

"I didn't get the two of you together so that you could gang up on me." Santana said scowling.

"No one is ganging up on you. I want you to be happy and if you could be happy with Alex then that would be great, if it doesn't work out then at least you gave it a shot." Finn said and then his attention went to someone off screen. "Crap I have to go, Quinn I got your letter, I feel the same. I sent you a letter to my parent's address since it should get there while you are on break. I wish I had more time to talk to you but it was great just seeing your face. You have the most amazing smile. Yeah, yeah I am getting off. Sorry I guess there is a line I have to sign off. I will do this again soon; will you be available this time next Friday?" Finn said hurriedly but with a huge smile on his face. Santana felt like she was invading a moment between the two and stepped back to let Quinn speak.

"I will be here. You be safe in your new time zone. We have a lot to talk about and I cannot wait to get your letter. Bye Finn." Quinn said with stars in her eyes.

"Bye Quinn, talk to you soon."

"You forget about me? Your sister?" Santana teased as she stepped forward coming back into Finn's view.

"I could never forget you San, you wouldn't let me. Bye Santana, remember what I said, give it a chance, you never know it could be the best thing ever." Finn said earnestly.

Santana didn't get the chance to respond because the call ended abruptly.

"So she likes you too. What are you going to do San?" Quinn asked.

"Right now I am going to finish studying, I can't…"

"No I get it, it is a lot to take in. Focus on the exam. But if you want to talk about it I am here for you." Quinn said as she gave Santana some space both literally and emotionally.

"Thanks Q." Santana said as she picked up her long forgotten flashcards. She had a lot of things to think about and her exam wasn't one of them.

A/N Sorry for the almost non-existent fuinn in this chapter but I am working up to a very fuinn filled few chapters. Review please, I could use some positive reinforcement, this work week is going to absolutely suck for me.


	11. Chapter 11 Diner Date

A/N I want to apologize for this chapter, I fully intended on make it a nice long fuinn filled chapter but life had other plans this week. Namely an 80 pound brick of lead smashed my hands (mostly my dominate hand) at work on Wednesday and well typing one-handed is not only difficult but frustrating and a little painful. Nothing is broken and I should be better soon but in the mean time I need to limit the use of it. I wrote this before my injury and I wanted to post something this week, so here is a Santana/Alex chapter. As always I don't own glee or its characters blah blah blah.

Chapter 11 Diner Date

_Lopez home, Saturday the first day of break_

Santana's pov

She kept looking at the clock on the mantle in the living room, time was moving at a snail's pace and Santana was growing more nervous by the minute. It was almost noon and she had been ready for her coffee date for the last forty-five minutes. "Not a date." She chastised herself, "It was a long time no see get together." She thought as she tried to not look back at the clock. Alex had said that she would meet her at noon at the house and there less than three minutes to the deadline. It was all Santana could do to not start counting down the seconds left in her head. She didn't want to admit to herself or anyone how excited slash nervous she was at seeing Alex again. She had taken the chicken shit way out and had not called the young woman back but had instead sent a text to her suggesting a meet up for coffee when she had gotten into town. Alex had followed suit and had texted her back suggesting to meet at the Lopez house at noon.

She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed that Quinn had sat beside her. "Almost time. Are you nervous San?"

Santana tried to give Quinn one of her heated glares but she could tell that it was barely room-temperature. "I don't get nervous Q, I make other people nervous."

"Could have fooled me. Come on Santana, it is okay to feel a little less than confident. You haven't seen her in two years and you like her; anyone would be nervous." Quinn said as Santana watched the clock hand tick to 11:59.

Santana turned to face Quinn and felt a desire to let all of her fears tumble out so she did. "I have no idea how to do this Q I have never really gone out on a date, Britt and I never went out. Is this a date? Do I pay? Do I try and hold her hand? _What do I do_?" she pleaded and before the blonde could answer she heard the doorbell chime just as the clock ticked over to noon.

Santana jumped up and Quinn grabbed her hand. "Breathe San you will be fine. Follow her lead to see if it is a date, pay for your drink and offer to pay for hers. Hold her hand if you want to. Do what feels right and it will be okay, alright?"

Santana nodded and gave Quinn a hug. "Thank you."

Quinn smiled and then gave Santana a little push towards the door and smirked, "Now go answer the door before she thinks that you are standing her up." Santana rushed to the door and almost tripped over her own feet and that earned her an eye roll from her roommate.

Santana opened the door the find a 5 foot 7 girl who was leaning with her back against the door crash into her. They landed with a thump in the entry way and she heard Quinn attempt to hold back a laugh that resulted in her snorting. Instead of rolling off of her Alex shifted to face Santana, placing her hands on the floor on both sides of her head in the push up position, their faces were less than an inch apart and she could feel her teenage crush's breath mingle with her own, Alex was breathing hard. Santana took this moment to study the girl's face, she had matured in the last two years,her dark burnette hair was cut in a short pixie cut, her lips were fuller they were quivering slightly and the braces that had plagued her throughout her early teens were gone. Her eyes hadn't changed they were still the deep chocolate with hints of gold flecked through them. Santana probably would have stared into those eyes all day if she hadn't heard Quinn clear her throat and speak, "Alex I presume?"

She watched as Alex smiled and looked up to see Quinn standing over them. With quickness and with an ease that Santana thought impossible Alex had pushed herself into a standing position in one fluid motion. The taller girl reached down to offer her hand to Santana and helped her up. "Guilty. Alex Hudson." She said to Quinn as she tried to offer her hand to shake hers but Santana hadn't let go of it yet. Quinn gave a teasing smirk to Santana as she realized that she hadn't let go. She dropped Alex's hand as if it were on fire and could feel a blush flare up on her cheeks as she thanked god for her darker complexion. Alex to her credit made no indication that she noticed Santana's embarrassment and shook Quinn's hand. "You must be Quinn. I have heard a lot about you from Finn, I thought that he was exaggerating when he said that you were breathtakingly beautiful but I stand mistaken. My cousin has excellent taste." Now it was Quinn's turn to blush. Alex turned to Santana and traced her fingers from her shoulder down her bicep to grasp her hand once more. "And you I swear you have become…I have no words Santana just wow." Alex said with sincerity that Santana had never heard before. In all of the time that she had known the girl she had never seen this kind of directness or confidence and Santana liked it, she more than liked it she found it down right sexy. "Should we go?" Alex asked as she gestured towards the still open door and Santana nodded and started to grab her coat that she had laid out earlier. "Am I going to do all the talking today?" Alex asked teasingly and Santana realized that she hadn't said a single word during the entire exchange. She groaned and covered her face with her hands, she felt like such an idiot.

Quinn laughed, "You will have to excuse my abnormally mute friend usually I have a problem keeping her mouth shut, I think you have rendered her speechless."

Alex squeezed Santana's hand and gave her a soft smile, "Well I can think of a couple things we can do that don't require talking so I think we should be fine."

Santana raised both eyebrows in surprise and she stiffened as felt a heat spread throughout her entire body. Alex laughed and her eyes sparkled, "I meant that we can get some food or go to a movie, get your head out of the gutter Lopez I don't fool around on the first date as a rule." She relaxed slightly as Alex led her out of the house and she gave Quinn a wave goodbye as almost an afterthought. "See you later Quinn it was nice to meet you, I hope we can talk later." Alex said as she open the door to her car for Santana. Before closing the door she leaned in and brushed her lips against Santana's ear and Santana couldn't hold back the involuntary shiver that traveled down her spine. Alex noticed and whispered, "Some rules were meant to be broken."

Santana held off her groan until Alex left to walk to the driver's side of the car, this girl was going to kill her, she had never felt so aroused or completely captivated by a person before. She also couldn't believe that she had been silent so long, she was Santana Alicia Lopez dammit and two could play this game! She waited until Alex had buckled her seatbelt before putting her hand on the girl's leg, just above her knee and gave it a brief squeeze, "It is good to see you, I have missed you."

Alex turned to look at her and gave a sad smile, "I missed you too…" It looked like she wanted to say more but changed topics, "So you want to go to the coffee shop on Warren Street or the diner by the park?"

Santana was curious of what the girl wanted to say, "Let's go to the diner." The diner would be a lot less crowded and quieter. Alex nodded and with a few directions from Santana they drove to the diner in relative silence. Santana did notice however that the brunette girl was stealing glances at her as she drove.

They found the diner deserted and went to a booth in the back. A young waitress that was sitting on a stool by the counter jumped up and brought them menus and went back to the counter. Alex gave the laminated menu a once over as Santana sipped the water that the waitress brought her, she knew the menu by heart and knew exactly what she wanted. The waitress came back and Santana noticed that her name tag said Heather. The tall blonde waitress leaned into the booth and asked "Is it alright if I sit here while I take your orders? My feet are killing me." She didn't wait for an answer before dropping down to the bench and scooting closer to Santana. "I am Heather, I'm a dancer and broke in some new shoes last night and boy was that a big mistake, I think that my toes are going to abandon me. What is your name? You look fit. So do you guys know what you want?"

Santana was unprepared for the blatant flirting, granted she had guys and girls alike hitting on her all the time but had never had it happen on a date and she had decided back at the house that this was in fact date. She was a little too flustered to answer, she hated that she was having trouble finding her words; Alex however had no problem speaking, "Yes _we_ know what _we_ want. I will have the grilled ham and cheese sandwich with root beer and my _girlfriend_ will have the Belgian waffles, syrup on the side with hot chocolate." She shoved the menus back at the now stunned silent waitress. "And yes she is very fit." She said a little forcefully as she took Santana's hand.

Heather the waitress nodded as she scribbled their order down on her pad and got up from the booth and accidently bumped the table spilling some of Santana's water onto her. "I will get you a towel, sorry." she stuttered.

"I got it." Alex said as she got her napkin reached for Santana. Heather left and Santana stared at the girl across from her.

Santana finally found her words, "_**Girlfriend**_**?**"

Alex blushed as she tried to wipe up the spilled water and Santana took the napkin from her to blot up the water that had splashed her shirt. Alex smiled and shrugged, "The girl was shamelessly flirting with you and it pissed me off. I couldn't think of another way of shutting her up. I am sorry I shouldn't have said it. Here we are seeing each other for the first time in years and I am blowing it. Crap and I order for you! That was douche of me, I can bring her back so that you can order…"

Alex was silenced by Santana putting her hand over her mouth, "Shut up. You are rambling and while it is cute you should stop. That was exactly what I planned on ordering, how did you know?"

"I remembered that you ordered it the last time we were here." Alex mumbled through Santana's hand.

"You remembered that? That was almost three years ago…"

Alex's eyes looked intently at her as she took Santana's hand from her mouth and gave it a light kiss, "I remember everything, well everything about you that is."

Santana took her hand back and stared at the girl with a mixture of disbelief and awe, "How could she have not seen this before?" she thought.

She must have been quiet for too because Alex looked down, "I have made this weird haven't I? I have said too much and I am freaking you out. All I can ever be is Finn's cousin to you…I should go. It was nice seeing you again, I won't bother you anymore." Alex started to get up and Santana grabbed her roughly by her arms and couldn't help but feel the taller girl's biceps and yanked her back down to her seat.

"God sometimes you are as dense as Finn, give me a moment before you jump to conclusions." Santana said heatedly. "This is a little weird because I have spent a long time trying to convince myself to think of you as Finn's cousin and nothing else, that will take a little time to get over. I am not freaking out, I may be a little surprised but Santana Lopez doesn't get freaked out. And you are not leaving, you are going to sit down and you are going to eat your sandwich and we are going to talk."

It was Alex's turn to be silent and just nod. "Good, so now please explain to me why you have disappeared for the last couple of years." Santana said as she felt a little more in control.

Alex shifted nervously in her seat and drummed her long fingers on the table top as she gathered her thoughts. Heather came back with their drinks and left quickly. Santana admitted to herself that the girls was attractive but couldn't hold a candle to the girl that sat across from her. "Okay. So you remember when I first came to stay with you? I was such a mess." Santana remembered it well. "My mom had just died and my dad… my dad was not handling it well. I was hurt and angry and mostly I felt lost. Lost until…well until I met you…and Finn. You tried so hard to make me a part of your life; it felt like I was a part of something again. My mom had been sick for so long and my dad had checked out around the same time, I had been on my own for a while. It was weird for me to live with you because I felt this instant bond with Finn, he was family. I could see myself in him, we had a similar smile and mannerisms but with you it was different. You were so upfront and honest with me about how you were trying to understand who you were. I felt so close to you but as hard as I tried it wasn't a sister-like bond and it was more than friendly at least that is how it felt on my end. It confused the hell out of me because I had never thought of a girl in that way before. Granted I never felt that way about a boy before and at fourteen that probably should have clued me into that I might be a little different. Anyway, I spent that first summer slowly growing closer to you and when I left in September I was determined to sort out my feelings. It was not easy and it was difficult to tell my dad, I was so scared but he handled it well. He told me that he already knew and had for a while. I was so excited to tell you the next summer but when I came back…"

"Brittany." Santana said knowingly.

"Yes Brittany happened and I was happy for you. You had figured out what you wanted and you went after it. I was proud of you. I tried not to let it bother me but it did. You still made time for me and I relished that time together but then would feel bad afterward because you were with Britt and I shouldn't have been thinking the things that I was thinking about when we were together."

Santana smirked, "What kind of things?"

"Never you mind kind of things. Can I continue?" Alex said sticking her tongue out at her. Before she could Heather the now very timid waitress brought their food. Santana poured her syrup over the waffles and watched as Alex ate a french fry. "Okay so where was I? Oh yeah so I was in an awkward situation, I couldn't stand seeing you with Brittany because she was always touching you and when we were alone I wanted to be touching you so I did the super mature thing and avoided you. I figured that if I could distance myself from you the feelings would go away. Big surprise when they didn't. I lied when I told you that I had a girlfriend back at the base, I guess I wanted to find a way to tell you that I was like you and a small part of me hoped that you would be jealous. It was so stupid."

Santana fussed with a piece of her waffle, "It worked, I was jealous. I felt so idiotic for feeling jealous and hopeful."

"Hopeful?"

"Well yeah, you told me that you were gay and a part of me started to do a happy dance." Santana admitted as she stabbed another piece of waffle.

Alex smiled a half smile half smirk and ate another fry. "So I avoided you the rest of that summer and when the next summer came around it was like hell on earth here with all of the Brittana action so I made it a point to be anywhere that you weren't. I realized that my feelings were not going to go away as long as I kept seeing you so I told my dad that I wanted to find a summer job instead of coming here and he found me one. I think he knew about my feelings for you. From your and Finn's emails I knew that you were still with Britt last summer and I am not a masochist so I stayed away."

Santana let it sink in; she had never wanted to hurt the girl. "So why now? Why after all this time do you tell me now?"

Alex bit her lower lip and shoved her almost untouched plate of food away. "I have a couple of reasons, one is that when I called Finn he sounded so happy, he is naturally a happy guy but this was he won the lottery and superbowl all mixed into one happy and it was because he had finally admitted that he liked Quinn. I realized that I wanted to be that happy and two when he said that you and Brittany had broken up it felt like fate had given me a chance and I didn't want to miss it. It felt like everything was coming together, I was moving up here and you were single all I had to do was take a chance and here I am taking a chance. I guess the rest is up to you."

"Up to me?"

"What do you want Santana?"

Santana stared at the girl who had just gotten emotionally naked in front of her and dammit her words had taken a vacation, they were nowhere to be found so she did the only thing she could, she leaned across the table and with one hand she cupped Alex's cheek and with the other she brushed her bangs out of her eyes and then she kissed her. It wasn't a deep kiss but Santana poured all of her feelings into it, the hope, the desire and the nervousness. It amazed her that she felt all of those emotions returned to her as Alex kissed her back. She pulled back and smiled as she watched Alex smile back.

"Interesting answer, I also would have accepted, yes Alex I like you too."

Santana laughed, "You are such a dork but yes I like you too Alex." She pushed Alex's plate back to her, "Now eat."

She accepted the plate eagerly and hungrily started eating her sandwich, "Baring your soul makes me famished." Alex said as she finished the food in record time.

"So quick question, are you here just for the day?" Santana asked as she made a quick grab for the check that Heather had just dropped off.

"Hey gimme that, I asked you out, I pay." Alex protested until Santana pouted and hid the check in her shirt. "You think I won't find it in there?" she said in a low voice that sent ripples of warmth through Santana.

"I thought you said no fooling around on a first date." Santana retorted as she got up. She was about to turn when Alex stepped in front of her and place a hand on Santana's flat stomach.

"I also said that some rules are meant to be broken." Alex said breathily as her fingers played with the hem of Santana's shirt, her fingertips barely grazing the skin under it. Santana stopped breathing for what felt like an eternity when Alex took a step away and walked to the counter waving the check.

"Wait what the fuck?! How did you do that? That was in my bra!" Santana exclaimed more shocked than angry.

"I got magic fingers." Alex teased as she paid the bill and both Santana and Heather the now crimson waitress blushed at the brunette's words. She turned and walked out of the diner and held the door open for Santana.

Santana shook her head to clear away the x-rated thoughts that had flooded her mind and went to join the sexy marine that was waiting for her when Heather grabbed her wrist, "I get off at 4:30 if you and your girlfriend want some more company." She said as she as scribbled a phone number on a piece of her order pad and shoved it into Santana's hand.

Santana walked out of the diner and smiled at Alex. "You have a fan." She said as she gave the slip of paper to her. Alex looked at the paper and back at Santana and crumpled the paper up and tossed it into the trash can by the door.

"I only want you San. Besides I have a feeling that you are about as much woman as I can handle." She teased as she bumped hips with her as she opened the door to the car.

"Damn right. Not too many people can handle all of my awesomeness and live." She joked as she gestured to her body and put her hand on her hip as she stood in front of the open door. "You never answered my question."

Alex leaned in and put one hand on the top of the car door and the other on the roof of the car, effectively trapping Santana. "Do you want me to stay? I have a week before I report. It is up to you San." Her mouth was a fraction of an inch from Santana's ear. "Tell me what you want Santana."

Santana gulped and turned her head to look the seductress in the eye, "Stay. I want you to stay."

Santana waited for Alex to kiss her but was surprised when Alex stepped back and walked to the other side of the car. "Good I will take you home and I will go check into a hotel." She said cheerfully as if the close talking had never happened. The girl was a giant tease!

The drive home was quiet but it was a comfortable silence and when they stopped at a red light Santana decided to break the silence, "This was the best first date, I had a great time."

"Really? It wasn't much of a date." Alex said as she drove.

"Well I don't have anything to compare it to."

"How is that possible?"

"Brittany and I never really dated. Brittany told me that she sorta liked me one day and was curious to see what it would be like to kiss me and we started fooling around after that. We were never went out in public alone, it was always in a group."

"So I am your first date?" Alex asked as she turned onto Santana's street. Santana nodded.

"Wow." Nothing more was said as they reached the house Santana could see that her parents were back from the brunch date that they had gone on earlier. "Come inside you know they will want to say hi." Santana pleaded and Alex followed her inside. As expected both Marisol and Rick Lopez were happy to see the other Hudson. Quinn joined in on the conversation and small talk was made about Alex's training and new assignment.

Time got away from them and it was almost dinner time when Marisol said, "In honor of your return Alex you get to pick what we are doing for dinner."

"Oh no, I shouldn't stay I need to check into a hotel and get settled in. I should shower and get cleaned up I drove straight through from Virginia early this morning; I cannot believe none of you have commented on my smell or appearance. I wanted to freshen up before but was too excited to see Santana." Alex protested.

Santana felt a surge of joy at Alex's words and she thought that the girl looked and smelled great. She watched her parents share a look and she knew that they were doing that telepathic thing that they did so well. Marisol turned to Alex, "Nonsense, you will stay here, we have plenty of room. Finn said it was alright for Quinn to stay in his room and you can take the guest room. We won't take no for an answer." She said in her I am the mom and I know best voice. Alex didn't stand a chance.

"Okay. If you are sure I will go get my bag from the car." Alex relented.

"I will give you a hand." Her dad offered and followed her out.

As soon as the door closed Quinn rushed up to Santana and her mom left the room to give them privacy. "So…What happened?" Quinn asked eagerly not even attempting to hide her enthusiasm.

"Whoa! Settle down Q. It…it was nice, very nice. We talked that was all. I think that this could be the start of something good."

Quinn smiled and nodded, "Well judging from the size of the smiles on both of your faces I think that it is. So all you did was talk?"

"Well there was a kiss and an offer of a threesome. Overall it was a pretty average date." Santana said nonchalantly as she walked into the kitchen and left Quinn in her stunned state. This was going to be one fantastic spring break.

A/N Again I am sorry for the no Fuinn but the next chapter is all Fuinn I promise. As soon as I am able to type without wincing from the pain I will write it. Reviews might heal me faster, you never know.


	12. Chapter 12 Dating Looks Good on Paper

A/N It turns out that I did in fact fracture my thumb and several bones in my hand so that sucks for me but I have decided to push through the pain and write some Fuinn because they always make me feel better. Thank you for all of the get-well wishes I appreciate them. This chapter was intended to be the second half of the last one so it is a little shorter. As always I don't own glee or its characters but Alex is mine. All mistakes are mine, I blame the pain pills.

Chapter 12 Dating Looks Good on Paper

_Lopez Residence_

Quinn's pov

Quinn couldn't stop smiling; it was too funny to see Santana left speechless by another girl. She watched them get in Alex's car and drive off on what Santana insisted wasn't a date but Quinn knew better. She was happy for her friend, she just hoped that the raven haired girl wouldn't let her stubbornness get in the way and be open to whatever the female Hudson had to offer. Quinn went back inside the quiet house and up to the guest room to read for a little while. She was trying to keep her mind off of the fact that the mail should be arriving soon and hopefully a letter would be in the delivery. She opened up her book but it was pointless after she realized that she had read the same page three times, she couldn't concentrate and groaned with frustration as she dropped the book to the floor. She laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, "This is ridicules." She thought, "I am acting like an idiot."

She grabbed the framed photo that she had found in the den that she had 'borrowed' and looked at it, it was of Finn taken the year before; he was wearing a tuxedo and had a mischievous smile on his face. Santana had explained that the photo was taken right before they had left for senior prom, Finn had surprised Santana with arranging a special dinner for her and Brittany since they couldn't go together as a couple. Quinn traced the outline of Finn's face in the photo and couldn't help but think about how handsome he looked. Feeling this way about some was new to her; she went to bed thinking about Finn and woke up thinking about him. In such a short time he had infiltrated her life and had taken a strong hold on her heart and mind. She had never felt like this with Sam. With Sam it had been a relationship of, well she didn't want to say convenience but it was. Their parents had set them up because on paper they looked good together and their fathers worked together. When they were going out she had fun with Sam but there was always something missing at the time she didn't know what but now she knew; there was no passion.

In that brief kiss with Finn she had felt more than anything she had ever had with Sam. It was like Finn had awakened something that had up until then had been dormant. All of a sudden all those romantic movies and songs made sense as stupid as that sounded. It wasn't like she didn't want to feel more with Sam, he was nice guy and he was the one that her parents wanted for her and at the time that was what mattered to her. Kissing Sam had never felt enjoyable; it was like they didn't fit together, his lips felt too big, his hands were always invading her space. It was a good thing that Sam had never tried to take their relationship further. Quinn laughed to herself at the thought. Sex had never been mentioned in their six months together in part because they had both been raised to wait for marriage but also due to the fact that Sam was terrified of her father. Sex was on her mind now though, it was way too early to think about taking that next step with Finn, not to mention that he wasn't anywhere nearby but something told her that when the time was right it would happen and that thought excited her. It amazed her how much she had changed since moving here, this time last year she would never had dared having these thoughts.

She was pulled away from her thoughts as she noticed the doorknob turning. She sat up and came face to face the person that had been dominating her thoughts. "Finn!" she cried as she flew from the bed to his waiting arms. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as she buried her face into his chest. She grasped at his back to make sure that he was really there and he laughed as he pulled away. "What are you doing here? Wait I don't care." She declared as she grabbed his neck and pulled him into a kiss. It wasn't like their first kiss; this one was full of need and desire which Finn returned. He opened his mouth and Quinn could feel his tongue running along her lips and she gladly granted him access. If that first kiss had woken her from hibernation than this kiss was sending an electric current to each and every cell in her body, it felt amazing.

Finn broke the kiss and took a deep breath. "Wow." He panted. "My connecting flight was canceled in New York and I had to see you before I left." He said as he leaned in for another kiss. Instead of capturing his lips in her own she grabbed his hands and pulled him towards the bed and pushed him down. He started to laugh but stopped when she straddled his lap and started to kiss his neck. She found his pulse point and felt his heart beating faster. She ran her hands up and down his chest until she found the hem of his shirt and started to pull it up. She had almost succeeded when she found his hands over hers and was forcing the fabric back down. "Quinn we need to slow down. I didn't come her for this." He must have seen the disappointment and embarrassment on her face. "Trust me I don't want to stop, you couldn't imagine how incredible this feels but I don't have a lot of time. We should talk." He cupped her face with a gentle hand and gave her a light kiss. Quinn nodded and slid off of his lap because she didn't trust herself not attack his lips again being so close. She sat next to him but gave him a little space.

Quinn was more than a little out of breath, "So what did you want to talk about?" she asked as she held his hand, her thumb rubbing circles across his palm.

He looked at her and she could swear that his eyes were darker, "I can't remember, maybe we should forget about talking." He said as he turned his body towards her and laid her down on the bed and reattached his lips to hers. It was as if he had a lot more than two hands as her entire body was receiving attention but she craved more. Once again she made a move to pull off his shirt and this time he let her, the feel of his skin hot against her hands was intoxicating. Quinn felt his fingers graze against the small of her back and she arched into him and moaned. She pushed him up and sat up to pull off her own shirt. Finn was breathing hard and was having a difficult time keeping his eyes off of her chest; she thought that it was cute that he was trying to be a gentleman when all she wanted was him to keep touching her.

"You can look Finn. I want you to." she said in a voice that sounded more confident than she had ever felt. She pulled him back down onto her and ran her fingers through his short hair as he kissed down her neck. He was almost to the valley between her breasts when he looked up as if to ask permission. She nodded and he started to kiss around one as his hand found the other. Her skin felt like it was on fire, the heat was shooting straight to her center and she wasn't sure how much she could take. She could feel Finn's other hand traveling south and find its place on her hip. She wrapped her leg around his waist and started to roll her hips towards him making him groan against her breast. Everything began to blur as Finn continued downward and a hand went to work on the button of her jeans. "Yes, yes…" she murmured as his hands slide the denim off. She could feel his hot breath over her soaked panties and she closed her eyes as she felt his fingers ghosting over the thin material.

"Quinn! Are you here?" a voice yelled from downstairs.

Quinn woke immediately; she found her hand down the front of her flannel pajama pants. "Oh god it was a dream." She groaned as she sat up, she must have fallen asleep. Finn wasn't here. Quinn couldn't believe that she had dreamed about Finn like that. She got up and wiped her fingers on her pants as she made her way to the bedroom door. This had never happened before and she was beyond embarrassed. She opened it and called out, "I am up here, I was taking a nap."

Marisol smiled as she walked up the stairs towards her and Quinn hoped against all hope that her boyfriend's mom and her current host wouldn't smell the scent of arousal that was wafting off of her. "You have mail my dear." She said as she handed Quinn an envelope. Quinn grabbed it quickly and blushed at her eagerness. Marisol gave a short amused laugh, "I take it that this is from my boy?" Quinn nodded as she looked at the envelope and ran her finger over his name written on the front corner. "I will leave you too it then." She said as she went back downstairs.

Quinn closed the door and practically flew to the bed as she ripped the letter open.

_Dear Quinn,_

_Hi Quinn,_

_Greetings Quinn,_

_Quinn,_

_I should have found a different piece of paper but I couldn't find any, you must think that I am an idiot. I am having a difficult time knowing how to address you since we haven't even been out on a date. In my head I call you my girlfriend but it is probably way too soon for that. I would like to change that. I was thinking that maybe we could try treating each letter or call as a date. I know that it isn't the same as actually going out but it is the best that I can do for now. As soon as I am physically capable to take you out on a proper date I will, that is a promise. _

_I guess technically this is my very first date ever so be gentle with me. So first date conversation…great weather we are having. Just kidding. I don't want this to awkward. I can't really tell you about my day but suffice to say that I did a lot of running around today. My sergeant is determined to have us in top form for when we get shipped out. I wish that I could say that I am not nervous or scared but I am. Not of what is over there but of letting the people I care about down. Not to freak you out or anything but by the time you get this letter I will be over there, dangerland as Santana calls it. _

_So Quinn what happened this week in your life? I bet you are happy that finals are over. Just think only three months until summer vacation. Have given any thought about what you are going to do? Are you going to go back to Ohio? I know we haven't really talked about it much but what are you going to do about your parents? I don't want to pressure you but they are going to find out sometime. It isn't my place but I think that you would feel better if you just told them about your changing majors, writing is your passion. I want you to be happy. Think about it._

_In other news Blaine got his first letter from Kurt the other day. He had the goofiest grin on his face the rest of the night. What do we call them Kaine or Blurt? I am leaning towards Blurt. I don't know if we will have gotten a chance to skype before you get this letter but I had an interesting talk with my cousin Alex yesterday. She is being stationed nearby you guys and I was hoping that you could help her feel at home. She has lived her life as a military brat, never staying in one place long. She has lived all over the world and seen some amazing things but I think that she has missed out on having a place to call home. She is a great girl but she had to grow up way too fast. Alex's mom got a blood infection when Alex was still a baby and was always sick. It affected her organs and when Alex was thirteen she wasn't strong enough to keep fighting it and passed away. My Uncle Conner did his best but I think that Alex had to learn to take care of herself and him after her mom died. You would think that it would make her a walled up person but she is one of the most open and loving people that I have ever met. I think that the two of you would get along well._

_Shoot I need to wrap this up. I probably shouldn't tell you this but I think about you all the time and I cannot wait until I get to see you again. Have a great time on your break. _

_Sincerely,_

_Until next time,_

_Thinking you of you,_

_Finn_

_P.S. Can I have a second date?_

_P.S.S. I don't know how you feel about kissing on the first date but if you want I will give you a rain check._

Quinn's heart fluttered as she folded the letter and set it down, she realized that she was still worked up from her dream and needed to cool off. She decided that a shower was in order, a cold one.

She grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom, her thoughts spun like a tornado in her head. Where did that dream come from? She needed to stop thinking about it. "Concentrate on the letter Quinn." She told herself as she adjusted the water temperature and started to strip off her clothes. She cringed as she stepped into the barely warm water. It was sweet of Finn to want to treat their letters and skype sessions as dates. She would have to plan something special for their date the next Friday. Quinn leaned into the water and placed her forehead on the cool tile and let the water wash over her as she thought about how Finn was already over there. She knew that it had been coming but she had tried to fool herself into thinking that he was going to stay in California until the end of his service. So much for denial. She shook her head, negative thoughts were not going to help one bit; she needed to focus on the good. Finn wanted to be her boyfriend and that was definitely a happy thought.

Quinn turned off the water and reached for her towel, as she wrapped it around her body she looked at her reflection in the barely steamed up mirror. The girl that was looking back at her was happy. She knew that it was fair to say that her life was complicated but in this moment none of that mattered. The blonde could hear a pair of car doors slam and she knew that Santana and Alex were back from whatever you wanted to call their outing. Quinn was eager to hear how it went so she rushed back to her room to change into some more appropriate clothes. As she pulled on her jeans she took one last glance at the photo of Finn and smiled. She might not have gotten a kiss at the end of her date but she would take the rain check and was looking forward to cashing it and all future ones in later.

A/N So this chapter was a lot shorter but my hand is killing me so I have to end it here. I hope you liked it. Review and let me know. Happy early love crap day aka valentine's day!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N I am sorry for the wait but between my broken hand and work my left has not let me have a lot of free time. General disclaimer I don't own Glee or its characters if I did I would smack Finn on the back of his head for his continuing to pursue Rachel when he deserves better. Anyway here is the next chapter.

Chapter 13

_A few weeks to summer break- dorm room_

Santana's pov

Her phone chirped indicating that she had a new text message; Santana let her biology notes fall onto the bed as she scooped up her phone. She couldn't hold back the smile on her face when she saw that it was from her girlfriend, yes girlfriend, Alex. For the first time she had an official girlfriend, one that she went out with in public and could hold hands with.

_Hey San guess who got a weekend pass! I hope that you can fit me into your busy schedule. Say hi to Q for me, tell her I want a Call of Duty rematch. _

Santana did a little involuntary happy dance as she texted back that Quinn noticed from across the room. "Can I assume that the message was from Alex?" Quinn asked quirking an eyebrow.

Santana collected herself a little before answering, "Now why would you say that? Maybe it was from Spenser in my inorganic chemistry group."

Quinn got off her bed and tapped at her chin, "Well let's see, when Spenser texts you typically you glare at the phone and growl or mutter under your breath about how that caveman got into Yale." Santana noncommittally nodded, Spenser was indeed a grade A moron. Quinn went to the desk and picked up the little calendar that had pictures of a very grumpy cat, "When Alex texts you almost instinctively relax and you get the same look as when they put out a new tray of tater tots in the dining hall."

"No one likes a know-it-all Q." Santana said after she stuck out her tongue at the blonde. "But yeah it was Alex she is coming down this weekend. She wanted me to say hi to you from her and she wants a stupid video game rematch." She said rolling her eyes. Santana would have never guessed that her roommate had some hidden gamer talent. The last time her girlfriend had visited Santana had lost some quality couple time with the marine because Alex could not accept defeat to a girl that had never played the game before. "I don't really get a look when she calls or texts do I?"

Quinn smirked as she leaned against the desk, "Total tot face San."

Santana scoffed and shook her head, "Well at least I don't look like someone gave me a basketful of kittens every time Finnocence calls."

Her roommate blushed slightly and then shrugged, "I don't care if I look like an idiot, I look happy because I am happy. I am thrilled that you are happy Santana, you deserve it." Santana laughed quietly and flopped backwards on her bed and bumped her head on the wall, she groaned and rubbed the injured area, as Quinn joined her on the bed. Santana laid her head on Quinn's lap.

"I am terrified of fucking this up, I have no idea of what I am doing Q." Santana admitted as Quinn stroked her hair.

"That is normal San."

"Big comfort there Quinn."

"What can I say Santana? You want me to tell you that everything will be fine?" Quinn said with an edge to her voice.

Santana sat up, "Are we talking about me or you here Quinn?"

Quinn rubbed her temples with her thumb and index finger, "I am not sure anymore."

"Is everything alright with you and Finn?"

Quinn nodded, "It is as good as it could be, I am happy and I think he is too."

"So what is the problem?"

"The best part of my week is when I get a letter or he calls or skypes."

Santana nodded along, "Sure I get that."

"It is also the worst part of my week when I wait and hear nothing and then I worry. I lay awake freaking myself out imagining horrible things. And the next day I get a letter and the cycle starts all over."

"Oh Quinn we all feel that way. This is…"

"This is what I signed up for when Finn and I agreed to be more than friends I know." Quinn interrupted.

Santana shook her head, "That wasn't what I was going to say, I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted was that this is not easy for any of us but it must be so much harder for you. I love my brother and there isn't a moment during the day that I don't worry about him, I would be an absolute mess if Alex got shipped out."

"Thanks." Quinn said quietly.

"For what?"

"For being here, for listening to me, for everything."

"Ah, don't worry about it, now can we get back to talking about me? I believe we were talking about how we were going to keep me from fucking up my first real relationship before you hijacked the conversation." Santana said very businesslike.

Quinn smiled, "I believe we were." Her expression changed to a more confused look, "Wait your first real relationship? What about Brittany?"

Santana pulled her hair out of her ponytail, "I don't know, when I was Britt I thought what we had was special but…"

"But?"

"I am not sure how to put it to words Quinn, the more time that I spend with Alex makes me question everything about my feelings for Brittany. Britt was my best friend, she was there for me when I needed someone and I think that I confused feelings of gratitude with love." Santana confessed.

"Can I ask how you got together with Brittany?" Quinn asked as she sought out Santana's eyes.

"You better not laugh; I might have to hurt you if you laugh." Santana threatened as Quinn mimed zipping her lips. "I think that I told you about how Brittany and I have been friends since fourth grade, we were both in gymnastics together and bonded over the horrible leotard designs." Quinn nodded and Santana continued, "We did everything together kind of like a dynamic duo. Well right before freshman year ended Brittany came up to me and blurted out that she had lost her virginity to a boy on the baseball team. She went into great detail and quite frankly I was more than a little disgusted. I know that you don't know Britt but believe me when I tell you that Britt doesn't have a filter when she talks, nothing gets held back. Anyway she tells me that since she wasn't sure if she liked the sex with the one boy she tried it with a different one and she liked it a little better. I got angry with her and was about to tell her to be careful if she was going to act like that when she kissed me. Like an honest to god kiss. It was my first. I was so thrown that I didn't do anything, I didn't kiss back or speak, I just stood there. Brittany spoke first, she told me that now that she had tried it with boys she wanted to be with a girl to compare. She said that I was the hottest girl that she knew so why not me. Brittany knew that I was coming to terms with who I am and she thought that she could help. I didn't really know what to do, here I had a beautiful girl wanting me and a voice in the back of my head kept telling me that since it was Britt it would be okay, she wouldn't hurt me so I gave in."

Santana couldn't read Quinn's expression when she asked, "So you hooked up with Britt because she was curious and you were horny?"

"I wouldn't put it like that but yeah." Santana cringed.

"So how did it become more than hooking up?" Quinn questioned.

"That's just it, it didn't, looking back it didn't really change. We carried on the same way we had when we were just friends the only difference was that when we were alone there were fewer clothes being worn."

"So friends with benefits. "

"I guess so, at the time I told myself that it was more but I was kidding myself."

"Well how did Brittany feel about it?"

"We never talked about it. She is such the free spirit that I don't think that she ever wanted to put a label on what we had." Both girls were quiet for a few minutes. "So I think we need a topic change, what would you like to do for your birthday Q? Don't think that I forgot that it is next week."

"I don't know, my family never really celebrated birthdays."

Santana was shocked, "No birthday parties?"

"Nope." Quinn said popping the 'p' sound.

"Well that is going to change."

Quinn looked a little concerned, "Santana…I don't want to make a big deal out of this. I recognize that look in your eyes you are planning something."

Santana tried to play innocent, "I have no idea what you are talking about." She tried to hold the innocent look but couldn't help the mischievous smirk that broke through.

Quinn threw her hands up, "There is no point in fighting you on this is there?" Santana shook her head. "I didn't think so, fine but I draw the line at strippers and clowns."

Santana laughed, "That leaves a lot in between Q. I like how your mind went straight to strippers though, you really have changed a lot since September."

Quinn groaned and shoulder bumped Santana knocking her down on the bed. "I know that you changed the topic but I just wanted to say one thing about you and Alex. Okay so maybe this is a first for you and it makes sense that you are scared but the way I see it is that you are both trying. You are going out of your way to make this different than what you had with Britt. Santana the important thing here is that whatever you are doing is working, both you and Alex are happy as far as I can see so give yourself a break."

Santana took a moment to let Quinn's words sink in. Once again the blonde had a point; she was getting a little tired of the girl always being right. There was one thing that she hadn't told her friend and it was the one thing that she was worrying the most. Her brain was trying to find the right words when she blurted out "I want to have sex with Alex!"

Quinn had a few different expressions pass over her pretty face, first a look of shock and then a blush and finally an amused smirk. "Well it has been a few weeks since you saw her last…"

Santana groaned and buried her face in her pillow, "I haven't I mean we haven't…"

A look of understanding appeared on Quinn's face and the smirk went away. "I see. So you two have been taking things slow."

"Very slow." She muttered. "We both wanted to not rush things but I feel ready. I am pretty sure that I love her Q."

"Have you told her? Because that is something that she should hear."

"No." Santana said barely audible.

"What?"

A little louder this time, "No. I know that it is three simple words but…"

Quinn got up from the bed and looked down on Santana, "I am not going to tell you what to do San but if that is how you feel you should tell her. As far as the sex thing goes…I don't know what to tell you. I guess if you are ready you should talk to her about it and hope that she feels the same way."

Santana nodded and looked at her watch, it was almost time for Finn to call. She got up and stretched. "I think that I will go to the library for a while."

Quinn gave her a confused look, "But Finn should be calling soon don't you want to talk to him?"

Santana shrugged, "I don't want to cut into your time with him, I will talk to him later. Say hi for me." She grabbed her jacket just as the laptop chirped signaling an incoming skype call. "Enjoy your date Q."

Finn's pov

Finn looked at his watch it was 2 a.m. his time so it should be 6 p.m. back home, he was exhausted but he wanted to see Quinn's face at least once this week. He was in the middle of a yawn when the skype call went through. "Hi Quinn." He yawned out and heard Quinn laugh.

"Hi Finn, you look like you are about to pass out." Quinn said as she lightly giggled.

"It has been a long day, a long week actually." Finn admitted. "How has your week been going? Anything interesting happen?"

Quinn bobbed her head side to side as if she were pondering his question. "I found out that one of my short stories is going to be published in the student works annual. My professor told me today, I guess it is a pretty big deal for a freshman to be included."

Finn felt a surge of pride shoot through him as he smiled broadly, "That is incredible! I am so proud of you, I bet everyone is."

Quinn blushed, "Actually you are the first one that I have told."

"Really?"

"Well yeah, you were the one to encourage me to show my professor in the first place."

"Wow, I feel honored Q, I really do." Finn said sincerely.

"I guess the only other news of the week is that your mom offered me a summer job working as her assistant. I think that I could learn a lot from her. I hope that you don't mind me staying in your room again." Quinn said happily.

"Sounds like you had a big week. No I don't mind in the least, my room is your room. So I guess that means that you won't be going back to visit your parents?" Finn asked.

"I was thinking about going back to Lima but then your mom offered me the job…and well working with her sounds so much better than babysitting or working at the country club."

"Are you sure that it doesn't have a little bit to do with the fact that you don't want to face your parents?" Finn asked gingerly, he knew it was a sensitive subject.

Quinn's expression changed to an agitated one, "I know that you mean well Finn but you don't understand what they are like."

"Well help me understand. I want to be able to help you." Finn urged.

Quinn looked away from the laptop and Finn could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes, the last thing that he wanted to do was upset her. He was about to apologize when she turned back to him. "I wish that I could tell you Finn but I don't think I know myself. I thought that I knew my parents but the more time I spend away from them the more that I realize that all that I know about them is what they want people to see. There is no substance. I haven't spoken to them since the week before Christmas; I have written them and haven't gotten any response for months. The only reason that I know that they are still alive is that my old neighbor posted a picture of them at the May Day picnic at country club on her facebook page." Quinn wiped a stray tear away. "I want to tell them about my story getting published, I want to tell them about my classes and more than anything I want to tell them about you…"

"Quinn…" Finn started, he didn't know what to say.

"I wish had never made those promises to my father." Quinn said quietly, more to herself than to Finn.

"What promises?"

"There were conditions for my going here. One was that I had to take the courses that my father picked out, the second one was easy, I just have to maintain a B+ average, but the third was no dating." Quinn said looking down.

"Oh. I see." Finn said as he felt like someone was putting weight on his chest. "So if you tell them, what would happen?"

"They would pull me out of school." Quinn said simply.

"I am so sorry Q. I wouldn't have pressured you if I had known."

"No you were right, I need to talk to them but I just don't know how to yet. Let me find the right words and time." Quinn said as she ran her fingers through her hair.

Finn looked at his watch, as much as he would love to spend more time with her he needed to go to bed, "I wish I talk to you all night Q but…"

"But it is almost morning in dangerland and you need to sleep." Quinn finished for him.

"There is one more thing that I need to say, well ask, what are you going to be doing the week after labor day?" Finn asked.

Quinn cocked her head to the side and arched an eyebrow, "I don't know Finn, I don't really make plans almost four months in advance, I guess be getting ready for classes to start again. Why?"

"Keep in mind that things can change but I was told today that that was my projected return home date." Finn said with a smile.

"Return home? As in coming back to the states? As in coming back here?" Quinn asked and Finn could hear the hope ooze from her voice.

"As in coming home to you."

"Forget getting published that is the best news of the day, best news of the month." Quinn beamed. "I will be counting the days."

Finn laughed and yawned at the same time, "Me too."

"Go to sleep Finn." Quinn said as her eyes twinkled.

"Okay Q. Whatever you say."

"Good, I need you to be well rested and alert tomorrow."

Finn nodded and saluted her, "Yes ma'am."

Quinn laughed and shook her head, "Goodnight Finn."

"Goodnight Quinn."

Finn watched as the call ended and his computer screen go black. "I love you Quinn." He said to the blank screen, maybe next time he would have the courage to tell her.

A/N So loyal readers if you are still there I have a question for you, I can wrap up this story in I think maybe five chapters and start a new story or I can expand on this story; what do you want? I am currently working on a Fuinn one-shot but I have a couple longer stories in mind. Let me know.


	14. Chapter 14 So Much Better Than Sand

A/N So so sorry for the long wait, I have good excuses I swear. First there was the broken hand and then I got hit by a truck, had a toolbox fall on my head and got a mild concussion, turned a year older, then I got promoted at work and started working 12 hour days, so I have had a hard time finding a lot of time to write. I hope you will all forgive me if you are still reading. As always I don't own glee or its characters or any of the music that I write about.

Chapter 14 So Much Better than Sand

_12:00 A.M. Quinn's birthday_

Quinn's pov

She was having the best dream when she felt someone pull her pillow out from under her head. Quinn was not thrilled to be woken so violently and snapped at her tormentor, "San what the hell! I was sleeping!"

Santana rolled her eyes and set her laptop on the bed next to Quinn and said in the direction of the lit up screen, "There I have done my part, I am going to bed now."

Quinn turned her attention to the screen and was surprised to see Finn looking back at her with a big goofy grin on his face. "I am sorry that San had to wake you up but I wanted to be the first one to wish you a happy birthday. Happy birthday Quinn!"

She wiped the sleep from her eyes, "You are such a dork but thank you." Quinn said with a smile matching his.

"I didn't have a lot of options gift-wise unless you want sand…I have a lot of sand here. Sand and well more sand. So I decided to play you a song; I hope you like it." Finn said as he pulled a guitar out and strummed a little before he started to sing:

"_The first time I saw your face I knew I was meant for you _

_The first time you said my name I knew I was meant for you_

_Love, they say it heals all wounds_

_Love, removes the hurt in you_

_Love, I know that this is true_

_Love, they say that it is blind_

_Love, they say it all the time_

_Love, I know that they are right_

_Love, they say this_

_You don't need to wonder_

_If love will make us stronger_

_There's nothing love can't do_

_Love, they say this_

_You don't need to worry_

_This love will make us worthy_

_There's nothing love can't do_

_The first time you held my hand_

_I knew I was meant for you_

_The first time you kissed my lips_

_I knew I was meant for you_

_Love, they say there's only one Love, the kind that's not undone_

_Love, I know you are the one_

_Love, they say this_

_You don't need to wonder_

_If love will make us stronger_

_There's nothing love can't do_

_Love, they say this_

_You don't need to worry_

_This love will make us worthy_

_There's nothing love can't do_

_I know they'll say that we're crazy_

_Tell me there is nothing love can't do_

_I know you'll say that we're crazy_

_Love, they say it heals all wounds_

_Love, removes the hurt in you_

_Love, I know that this is true_

_Love, they say there's only one Love, the kind that's not undone_

_Love, I know you are the one_

_Love, they say this_

_You don't need to wonder_

_If love will make us stronger_

_There's nothing love can't do_

_You don't have to wonder_

_Love, they say this_

_You don't need to worry_

_This love will make us worthy_

_There's nothing love can't do_

_You don't have to worry_

_Love, they say this_

_You don't need to wonder_

_If love will make us stronger_

_There's nothing love can't do_

_You don't have to wonder_

_You don't need to worry_

_This love will make us worthy_

_There's nothing love can't do you don't have to worry_

_There's nothing love can't do _

_There's nothing love can't do _

_There's nothing love can't do."_

Quinn was barely able to hold back tears as Finn stopped playing and set the guitar down and turned back to face her, "Quinn I guess what I want to say is I…" the screen went black and 'lost connection' popped up on the screen. Quinn groaned in frustration, what was Finn about to say? Was is what she thought he was going to say after that beautiful song? She hit a few keyboard keys to try and get him back but it was pointless, she closed the laptop and set it down on the desk. She sat on her bed and let it all sink in, she was now nineteen and maybe, hopefully, Finn loved her. It was a lot to take in at 12:10. She could see that Santana was unsuccessfully pretending to be asleep.

"San you awake?"

"Yeah…everything okay Q?" Santana asked as she sat up.

"I think so…I feel…I feel different somehow. I don't know how to describe it Santana. I think he loves me. Besides my parents and I am not so sure about them anymore, no one has ever loved me."

"That is ridiculous Lucy Quinn Fabray!" Santana said as she got up from her bed and flopped down beside Quinn. "I love you, my parents love you, Kurt loves you and I am pretty sure that creepy Karen from your history discussion group loves you. Trust me you are loved."

"Really?"

"Of course you idiot." Santana rolled her eyes and then took a more serious tone. "You are one of my favorite people Quinn…you are family to me." Santana said sincerely as she took one of Quinn's hands. "Happy birthday Q, I know that it is not that same as coming from my brother but I love you. Now it is waaaaaaay to early to start celebrating so can we go back to sleep?"

Quinn nodded and Santana started to get up and Quinn gripped her hand a little harder, "Stay with me?" she asked and Santana gave a slight nod as she lay down beside her. It was a small bed and not really all that comfortable for two people but for some reason that Quinn couldn't understand she didn't want to be alone. She felt Santana's strong arms wrap around her and could hear Santana's breathing get shallower and soon soft snores could be heard. She let herself drift off feeling more content than she had in a long time. Nineteen was shaping up to be a great year.

A/N Don't hate me I know that this is a super short chapter but that is only because the next one is so very very long. I cut this chapter from it because I wanted to post something for you. I have no idea when I am going to finish the next chapter so please be patient with me. I had a crappy week so please review, let me know what you think of the story so far and where you would like to see it go. I have had a couple of pm's requesting me to write some smutty fuinn oneshots would that be something that you guys would like to read? By the way the song that Finn sings is 'Love They Say' by Tegan and Sara. I started to write this story after hearing this song for the first time.


	15. Chapter 15

I woke up this morning to incredibly sad news... Cory Monteith has died. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. I have loved him as an actor since seeing him on Kyle XY and had been delighted when I saw him on Glee. He will be missed by so many, his family, his friends and of course his fans. So as his fans I have a question to ask you... What do I do? Do you want me to keep writing Fuinn and Finntanna? Do I finish the stories that I have started? I want to honor Cory and his work as Finn but right now... I don't know. So I am asking you, the people that love him as much as I do to give me a little direction, send me a pm and let me know.


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